Road Tips

Jesse's Embers - Des Moines

In Des Moines on a recent trip to the capital city of Iowa, I was looking at possibly trying either one of a couple three different places down around the Court Avenue entertainment district of the city.  I was talking to a friend earlier in the day and I asked him what he suggested for a place to eat.  He said, "My wife and I think Jesse's Embers is the go-to place for food when we go out in Des Moines."  Jesse's Embers!  I hadn't eaten at Jesse's Embers in years!  What a great idea!  (Photo courtesy Roadfood.com)

Jesse's Embers is one of those old fashioned steak houses that has been around for, now, 50 years in 2013.  The small building on Ingersoll Ave. has served hundreds - no, probably thousands - of local and national politicians and celebrities over the years.  Jesse Roush opened the original location in 1963 and his son, Rick, took over the business later on.  Rick Roush oversaw an expansion of Jesse's Embers with locations in both West Des Moines and Urbandale in the late 90's and into the early 21st century.  But those locations didn't last long as they never captured the 60's feel of the original Jesse's Embers just west of downtown Des Moines. (see map)

In 2007, Rick Roush sold Jesse's Embers to a group headed by Thom Ruan, the son of transportation/banking icon John Ruan; Marty Scarpino, whose restaurant teeth were cut at his parents restaurant - Scarpino's - in suburban Windsor Heights; and Marty Scarpino's wife/partner, Deena Edelstein.  Marty had been the long time bartender at Jesse's Embers before he took over as the managing partner of the place.  (Sadly, Thom Ruan passed away earlier this year from complications from diabetes.) 

One of the first things the new ownership group did to the building on Ingersoll Ave. was to freshen up the interior and exterior, giving a more updated look to the place.  From the outside, Jesse's Embers looked somewhat like a bunker with no windows.  Ruan, Scarpino and Edelstein added a couple windows to allow some natural light to filter in during the daytime.  I read somewhere that Jesse Roush probably would have rolled over in this grave when the windows were put in.  But the same cozy dining area with an open flame grill kitchen area along the wall and the small bar area stayed intact.  

It was after 8 p.m. when I pulled into the parking lot behind Jesse's Embers and went in through the familiar back door.  I emerged into the dining area just next to the big open flame grill that has cooked thousands of top quality steaks over the years.  As the grill chef turned a steak, a large flame flared up from underneath.   

I was greeted by the manager, who introduced himself as Joe.  It turned out he was Marty Scarpino's brother and I asked if I could sit at the bar and get food.  He said, "Absolutely!  No problem at all!"  He asked what my name was and he used it in conversation with me the rest of the evening.  I immediately liked the guy.  He was friendly, but not in a forced fashion.

He dropped off a menu and I ordered a beer to tide me over.  Joe asked me, "I take it you've eaten with us before."  I told him that I had but it had been years - probably over 12 years - since I last ate at this location.  Joe said, "As you can see, we've spruced up the place a bit since my brother took over about six years ago.  But we still offer the same prime aged steaks that you had on your last visit all those years ago."  Gee, what a coincidence!  I was looking to get a steak that evening!

And they have a number of steaks on their menu.  Their signature steak - the Embers Special - is a 12 oz. prime sirloin cut.  They have the Yankee's New York strip steak - a 16 ounce center cut steak that sounded great to me.  In addition to steaks, they have Iowa pork chops, smoked baby back ribs, grilled chicken, and a number of seafood items on the menu.  My buddy was telling me that Jesse's Embers also has a great burger - the Emberburger - that he likes to get during lunch from time to time.

I ended up ordering a filet - rare.  I had my choice of French fries or pasta salad, but for an upcharge I could get cottage fries, onion rings or a baked potato.  For some unknown reason, I ordered the cottage fries.  Later on in the evening, someone sitting down the bar got an order of onion rings as an appetizer.  When I saw them, I suddenly remembered how good they were at Jesse's Embers.

A house salad came with my meal and I had asked for Jesse's Embers homemade garlic dressing to come with it.  Large housemade croutons sat on top of the salad.  The garlic dressing got your attention, but wasn't overpowering in taste.  My wife is a garlic dressing nut and she would have loved the dressing at Jesse's Embers. 

 
My steak came out after I finished my salad and it was a robust piece of beef wrapped in bacon.  Easily 2 1/2 to 3 inches thick, the steak was cooked to what I would call "rare plus", more to the medium rare side than to the rare side of temperature.  But it wasn't a deal breaker by my interpretation of what is and isn't rare.  The knife easily cut through the steak and the flavor was - well, I asked myself after about the third bite why the hell I hadn't been back into the original Jesse's Embers for so long.  The taste was simply excellent.  It had a nice charred outer shell to the meat - the steak was so thick that it required some charring from the searing high temperatures just to get it rare.  The juices were sealed in and the toasted bread underneath the steak soaked up more juices with each cut.  It was a fabulous steak.  

After I finished, Joe Scarpino came over and said, "So, is it going to be another 12 years until you get back in here?"  God, I hope not!  I forgot how underrated and how much of a great value Jesse's Embers really is.  My large filet with the upcharge for the cottage fries and a salad came to $27.95.  I've had steaks that were smaller, more high priced and didn't taste as good as the one I had at Jesse's Embers.  The charming ambiance of the place is still there after 50 years.  If you're ever in Des Moines and looking for a good steak, I cannot recommend any place more highly than Jesse's Embers in terms of quality and value.  

Woody's Smoke Shack - Des Moines

For a while now, I've said that Des Moines has a number of very good barbecue places and one that has been on my radar for quite some time is a small restaurant near Drake University called Woody's Smoke Shack.  I was in Des Moines recently one evening and sought out the little barbecue joint on Cottage Grove. (see map)

Woody's Smoke Shack opened in the latter part of 2008 in what was the former location of Sammie Jack's Barbecue which had gone out of business.  However, I remember the building from back in the 70's when it was the locally famous Blind Munchies, a funky little sandwich shop run by an old hippie.  There was a weekly underground newspaper around Des Moines in which the Blind Munchies used to advertise.  Their 4" by 4" ad simply said, "2511 Cottage Cheese" - a take off on their address which was 2511 Cottage Grove.  An in-lay that says "2511 Cottage Cheese" is still on the floor of Woody's Smoke Shack.  

In 1981, the owner of the Blind Munchies suffered a stroke and became incapacitated.  His house, directly across the street from the small restaurant, had a big picture window up front.  He had his bed next to the window so he could look across the street to make sure the business was still going.  Unfortunately, he died in 1982 and the building stood vacant for about 15 years.  

That's when Sammie Jack's Barbecue came in to take over the location.  A former competitor on the barbecue contest circuit, the owner of the place had another job that didn't allow him to work the barbecue place full time.  Most of the time he was open only from 11 a.m to 2 p.m. and slightly longer hours on the weekend.  Some days, if he didn't have the help or didn't have the time, he just wouldn't open.  As time went on and people grew tired of the sporadic hours, he ended up closing the business around 2005.

Steve "Woody" Wasson had gotten his start in the barbecue business on the barbecue competition circuit, much like the former owner of Sammie Jack's and many others who have opened barbecue joints.  He was in the building trade as his day job, but loved to barbecue in his back yard over the weekend.  After getting into barbecue competitions - and winning many awards - he and his wife, Cheryl, began a catering business in 2002, Woody's BBQ.   

When the construction business went to hell with the recession in late 2008, the Wasson's decided to open their own barbecue place - Woody's Smoke Shack - in the old Sammie Jack's location.  They spruced up the small building and put in a couple smokers out back.  It was an immediate hit with barbecue aficionados in the area.  I understand the lines at lunch can stretch out the door in the warmer months. 

Woody's is only open until 8 p.m. on the weekdays and it was around 7:30 when I pulled up in front of the place.  A few people were inside the small dining area, a couple waiting on to-go orders and a couple more finishing up dinners.  The interior of the place is sort of cozy with busy walls featuring a number a number of signs and knick-knacks.  The tables and chairs are high, but not very big.  You *may* be able to fit 30 people in the place.  In the summertime, Woody's features outdoor dining on a patio.  In the wintertime, they close it up, heat it and use it for overflow seating.

The menu is on a chalk board on the wall behind the front counter.  Like most barbecue places that I'm trying for the first time, I wanted to get a little bit of everything.  Woody's Special allows you to pick three different types of meat from ribs, chicken, brisket, pulled pork or ham and get a couple sides to go along with it.  I ended up ordering a Woody's Special with ribs, brisket and pulled pork.  For my sides I ordered baked beans, but I was sort of lost as to what to order for the second side.  I asked the young guy who was taking my order what other side I should get and he immediately said, "Oh, get the cheesy potatoes.  They're awesome."  

Woody's is also a "B.Y.O.B" place.  I was sort of disheartened that I couldn't get a beer with my barbecue, but that was fine for that first trip.  So, if you want a couple frosty beers with your barbecue at Woody's, they encourage you to bring in your own.  I ended up just getting some water with my meal that evening.   

The meal came out to me in less than 10 minutes.  Interestingly, the meats were all served on aluminum foil on a platter.  The sides were in small styrofoam cups.  From the temperature of the meats - which was lukewarm, at best - I'm guessing that they just heat up the meat in a microwave when ordered.  It was a little disappointing to have it be not all that warm, but it wasn't a deal breaker.  

The ribs were the first thing I tried.  They had a nice light sauce glaze over the top of the meat on the bones and the pork meat easily pulled apart when I took a couple ribs apart.  The rub/glaze has a nice flavor and there was a good smoky flavor with the meat.  The ribs were the highlight of the meal.

I got into the pulled pork next.  It was moist and tender and also had a nice smoky taste.  I added some of Woody's sweet and tangy barbecue sauce and it was a very good combination.  I made short work of the pulled pork.  It was almost as good as the ribs, but I liked the taste of the ribs better.

The brisket, unfortunately, was the weak link that evening.  It was dried out and tepid in temperature.  It still had a nice beef taste to it, but it was far from the best brisket I'd had.  Still, I was able to eat it all, even though I was getting full from the generous portions Woody's provided.

The baked beans, on their own, were good.  With some barbecue sauce added, they were even better.  And the cheesy potatoes were as good as advertised.  I couldn't finish either the beans or the potatoes as I was getting stuffed.  

All the while I was eating, I got to talking to Woody Wasson who was seated at a table near me, taking a load off his feet as he was finishing up another day.  He told me that in the summertime he usually has both smokers going out back.  "When the weather cools down, so does business.  So I just run one smoker during the winter months.  Sometimes we run out of some meat, but it beats having a bunch leftover."

I asked Woody how he got started in the business and he said that he used to smoke ribs and pork butt in his backyard for fun over 15 years ago.  He said he always made too much food and would give some away to friends and neighbors.  Someone told him that he ought to get into a barbecue contest somewhere.  "I found one coming up in Waterloo, IA," he told me. "So, my son and I went up there for our first contest."

Woody related to me that the contest was for ribs only.  They had 12 rib racks that they had to cook in six hours and the Brinkmann smoker they brought along could only hold 4 racks of ribs at a time.  "It normally takes me six hours to cook my ribs," Woody told me.  "We were able to pull it off, but we realized, 'Hey!  We need a bigger smoker!' " 

He told me he found one for sale up in Perry, IA.  But when he went to see it, it turned out to be too small.  Woody said the guy told him, "Heck, I can build you one.  Any size you want."  

Woody said it took the guy two weeks to build his first big smoker.  "We took possession of it and took it home to burn off all the oil inside the smoker", he told me.  "Then we took it to Kansas City for a contest.  Our first big contest."

That contest didn't turn out well for the Wasson's.  "We overcooked everything," Woody said as he shook his head.  "We didn't know how to regulate the heat or keep it at a constant temperature.  We were in a little over our heads."  

He said that he had to bring the smoker back home and learn how to smoke on it.  After getting used to the smoker, Woody entered other competitions, but still wasn't doing well.  He was wondering what he was doing wrong and wondered if he really was biting off more than he could chew.  

That was until a fellow competitor came to Woody one time after that at another competition and said, "Hey, if you watch my fire overnight, I'll show you the tricks of the trade."  So, while the guy "drank and drank and drank some more" with other people at the competition ("Boy, that guy could drink," Woody told me with a laugh), Woody watched his fire on his smoker.  The guy went back to the hotel, telling Woody he'd be back at 5 a.m.  5 a.m. came and went, and the guy was nowhere in sight.  6 a.m. came and Woody got to be concerned.  He told me, "I called my wife and I said, 'I don't know where he is.  He could still be dead drunk somewhere.' "

Woody said that he finally called the guy at the hotel sometime before 7 a.m. and asked him if he remembered he had a competition that day.  "He told me, 'Yeah, yeah!  I'm on my way," Woody related.  True to his word, the guy showed Woody some of the ins and outs of competitive barbecue and that got him going.  Woody said, "And today, that guy is my best friend in the business."   

Woody said he doesn't do much competing any longer.   "We do a lot of catering, especially in the summer months when a lot of those competitions are going on," Woody said.  "Besides, there's a lot of other good barbecue places in Des Moines, so I'm competing every day."

Before I left, I had to use the restroom and I have to say that Woody's restroom is one of the nicest and cleanest I've ever been in at a restaurant.  It looked like it was a half-bath in someones country home.  

With all that said, I found Woody's Barbecue to be good, but not great.  I loved the ribs and the pulled pork - even though they were served somewhat lukewarm - and was disappointed in the brisket.  I like good brisket and I'm guessing the combination of a cool temperature and possibly sitting in the fridge for more than a couple days may have had something to do with that.  I enjoyed talking with Woody and learning about his business.  He was a personable and likable kind of guy.  I'm going to give Woody's another try at some point and hopefully I'll get meat that is a little more warm the next time.  If not, I'm sure that I can ask them to nuke it a little longer to make it better.  

(Papa) Georgioz - Colfax, IA

My niece was getting married back at the family farm near Kellogg, IA over Labor Day weekend.  The night before, my sister and the mother of the groom had a reception for both families, but woefully under estimated the amount of food needed because of the number of people from the groom's family who showed up.  I didn't eat, but Cindy did a little bit.  I told her, "Hey, don't eat too much. I've got an idea for dinner."  I'd heard about a place over in Colfax called Papa Georgio's and wanted to try it out.  We left around 8:30 and high-tailed the 20 miles over to Colfax to find the place. 

Georgioz (they have appeared to dropped the "papa" and changed the spelling) is a little pizza/sandwich place just as you cross the railroad tracks coming from Interstate 80 on the north side of Colfax on Highway 117 at Front St. (see map)  The building in which Georgioz is housed used to be various bars and even a strip club a number of years ago.  Pam and Andrew Weigle bought the building, fixed it up and opened for business in 2003.  Pam's father, George Dickerson, whom I knew years ago, helped out with financing on the place, hence the "Papa Georgio's" name when it first opened.  From all indications, it's simply known as Georgioz these days.  

(Pictured right - the front of Gergioz.  Photo courtesy Waymarking.com)  

Not knowing how late they stayed open, we pulled into the parking lot just before 9 p.m. a few cars including a couple larger boats behind pick-up trucks were in the parking lot.  As we were getting ready to walk in, I looked in the window and a long line of people were approaching the door to leave.  We stood as about a dozen of them came out.  One of the guys held the door for us and said, "There were 18 of us, so you may be running into a few more on your way in."  

Sure enough, the rest of the people were coming toward us as we turned the corner.  A young waitress, Brooke, came up with the final people leaving the place and I asked her, "Are we too late to get some food?"

She said, "Oh, not at all!  We're open until 11!"  She grabbed a couple menus and took us down a narrow passage that also had some tables along the wall, past the open kitchen on the left that housed a large Baker's Pride pizza oven (below left) and into a larger dining area.  She said, "You can take your pick.  You guys are the only ones here!"  We took a table opposite the side where the large party had just finished.  


The dining room at Georgioz could be categorized as "industrial chic".  The walls were a bright red with what appeared to be metal truck liners (that's what Cindy said they were) about three feet up around the walls. Contemporary art work adorned the north and west walls with windows along the east side.  All the tables had metals tops and padded metal chairs.  

Brooke asked us what we wanted to drink as we looked over the menu.  I got a beer, but Cindy was surprised to see that they offered a number of wines by the glass - including a malbec that she promptly ordered.  Frankly, I was sort of surprised with what they had for wines, as well.  It appeared that Georgioz had their own private label house red and house white wine available.    

Pizza, sandwiches, and appetizers and salads are the main fare at Georgioz.  They have a number of specialty pizzas including a Bacon Cheeseburger Pizza that's topped with ground beef, onions, dill pickles, bacon, and mozzarella AND cheddar cheese; a Bleu Cheese pizza that is topped with a garlic butter sauce,  seasoned chopped chicken, red onion and garlic, then finished with bleu and feta cheeses with olive oil and a blend of mozzarella; and the Rueben pizza - instead of a pizza sauce, they use Thousand Island dressing, then it's topped with corned beef, sauerkraut, and mozzarella.  It sort of sounded equally disgusting and interesting to me.  

Cindy was looking hard at their salads and determined that she wanted to get one of their Greek salads.  The only problem was that the 1/2 Greek salad was only a buck cheaper than a full one.  When she asked Brooke how big the half was, she said, "Well, I certainly have trouble finishing one."  Cindy asked me if I'd help her eat it, but I was set on getting a pizza.  

Georgioz has a "create your own pizza" segment on their menu and you can choose between over two dozen toppings including mandarin orange, breaded chicken, fresh spinach and yellow peppers.  Going back to my standard sausage, pepperoni and mushroom, I ordered a medium - 14" - pizza, figuring that we'd have a refrigerator in our room for leftovers back at the hotel that we hadn't checked into as of yet.  (Note - we didn't.)  I was also pleased to see that Georgioz used Graziano Brothers sausage, some of the finest Italian sausage in the Midwest.  I asked Brooke if the pizza crust was thin and she said, "Well, it's not cracker thin, but it's more thin than other pizzas around here."  

About 20 minutes later, Brooke brought the Greek salad and pizza out to the table for us to dig into.  I would have hated to see what a full Greek salad consisted of because the half was pretty big on its own.  For a buck more we could have gotten the full Greek salad just to see, but it would have been a waste of a lot of food.  Cindy's Greek salad had ample amounts of feta cheese, chopped black olives, red onions and tomatoes.  Cindy had their homemade Greek salad dressing served on the side.  After the first couple of bites, Cindy said, "Oh, this is very good.  Exactly what I wanted!"    

The pizza was cut into party squares, exactly how I love a good thin crust pizza.  The toppings were thick and plentiful.   Most places that use Graziano Brothers sausage usually finely grind their meat before they put it on the pizza.  It appeared that the sausage on the Georgioz pizza is not quite as finely ground as there were some larger chunks of meat on the pizza.  After letting it cool down for a bit, I bit into the first piece.  The sauce had a tangy sweet taste, the cheese was heavy and stringy, and the toppings were excellent.  Georgioz uses fresh mushrooms on their pizzas and these mushrooms had a wonderful taste.  The hallmark of a good pizza to me is if it tastes good with a beer.  Georgioz pizza tasted GREAT with a beer.  

We finished what we could and Brooke came over and asked if we needed boxes for the leftovers.  Cindy said, "No for the salad, but yes for the pizza."  When Brooke came back with the pizza box and the check, we got to talking to her about Georgioz and about her life.  It turned out that her aunt and I went to school together over in Newton from junior high through high school.  She told us how she had lived in Italy for awhile, then in New York before moving back to Iowa to finish her schooling.  When Cindy asked her where she lived in Italy, she said, "I lived in Florence."  When Cindy went to Europe to meet up with her daughter who was studying in Spain about four years ago, the most favorite place she visited was Florence.  So, those two carried on for about 15 minutes talking about Florence.  

I'd heard from others who told me Georgioz had good pizza and I had to find out for myself.  Let's say I wasn't expecting much from the place and I was pleasantly overwhelmed by the restaurant, the service and the pizza. I told Brooke that Georgioz would beat anything any of the pizza places in the Quad Cities had to offer.  She said, "We hear the same thing from people who come over from Des Moines."  And Des Moines has some pretty fine pizza places.  But Georgioz can stand up to any of them.   

Mezzodi's - Des Moines

I like to stay at the Hampton Inn near the Des Moines International Airport on my trips to Central Iowa.  One of the reasons I like the place is that they feature an appetizer buffet each evening for Hilton Honors members - complete with free draft beer - usually catered by one of the local restaurants in the immediate area.  One evening earlier this summer after I checked in, I went over to the buffet and found that they had meatballs in a marinara sauce, and a spinach and artichoke dip served with oven-baked baguette bread.  The guy overseeing the buffet told me, "This is from Mezzodi's, just up the road on Fleur." (see map)  I had definitely heard of Mezzodi's and I've been wanting to try the place for quite sometime.  I got settled into my room and then decided to run up the road for dinner that evening.  

Mezzodi's was opened in 2000 by brothers Ron and B.J. Giudecessi.  The Guidecessi family are the people behind the highly popular Christopher's restaurant on Des Moines' northwest side.  Ron and B.J.'s parents, Joe and "Red" Guidecessi bought Christopher's in 1963 offering a wide variety of supper club-style and Italian entrees in the Beaverdale neighborhood.  Before opening Christopher's, Joe and "Red" had Rose's Cafe on the east side of Des Moines, opening in the mid-50's.  The Guidecessi family wanted to expand their Italian offerings beyond Christopher's and the two Giudecessi sons decided to open Mezzodi's.  

A couple years ago, the Giudecessi's sold their interest in Mezzodi's to a silent owner.  The new owner reached out to Orchestrate Hospitality, a Des Moines-based management firm that handles the operations for restaurants such as Centro, Django, Zombie Burger and South Union Bakery.  (Click here to see my entry on Zombie Burger, which is one of the most read entries of all-time on this blog.)  All those restaurants are headed by chef George Formaro (who happens to be a follower of Road Tips on Twitter).  Formaro was called upon to do some brainstorming with new Mezzodi general manager Sam Campero (formerly the owner of the now closed Nana's Italian Restaurant in Urbandale) and new Mezzodi executive chef Tom McKern (formerly the executive chef at Gateway Market).  The three came up with a new menu, spruced up the place inside and out, and expanded their hours to offer lunch and dinner seven days a week, including a brunch menu for the weekends.  

I arrived at Mezzodi's not long after 7:00 p.m. on a weeknight.  From the outside it appears the building may have been an old Village Inn or International House of Pancakes restaurant at some point in time.  The smallish dining room as you walk in was nearly full.  The hostess explained to me that it had rained rather heavily a couple hours before and it was too wet on the patio to eat out there.  I had my choice of a small table in the dining room or a high-top table in the bar.  I decided on the bar seating area, a well lit, light-wood decored room.  She dropped off a menu and soon thereafter my server for the evening, Courtney, came to great me.  I got a bottle of beer as I looked over the menu.  

Most of the items on the menu are Italian based from their numerous pasta dishes, steaks with an Italian twist such as their boursin cheese-crusted filet and their Tuscan-style ribeye that is marinated in olive oil, balsamic vinegar, herbs and garlic, and their chicken dishes such as chicken parmesan, chicken Florentine, chicken piccata and chicken marsala.  They also had pizza at Mezzodi's along with a number of sandwiches and appetizers.  Interestingly enough, I did not see the meatballs on the appetizer menu.  (But they were available on the "Build Your Own Pasta" section of the menu.)

One thing I have to say about Mezzodi's was the bread that was brought to my table. It featured two slices of South Union Bakery's Italian bread and a couple hunks of their focaccia bread.  Both types of bread were warm and very fresh.  I didn't want to over eat the bread as I didn't want to get too filled up so I couldn't eat my dinner.  But with the fresh whipped butter, it was hard not to stop.  

Courtney came back to take my order and I was torn between the steak de burgo - medallions of sauteed tender beef topped with a garlic butter cream sauce, the lasagna Bolognese - Mezzodi's homemade lasagna with a Bolognese sauce with sausage, ground beef with mozzarella, parmesan and ricotta cheese, or the Cajun seafood pasta - shrimp and scallops mixed in with bell peppers and onions on a bed of penne pasta, then topped with a spicy Cajun cream sauce.  I even contemplated getting a pizza, but the three entrees that I was looking at were tough to choose from.  I ended up with the lasagna Bolognese.  I had my choice between the soup or a house salad and I went with the salad with their homemade creamy balsamic dressing.  I switched from beer to a glass of Norton malbec, a wonderful red wine from Argentina.  I've been getting into malbec wines a little more as of late.  

Courtney brought out my salad and it was pretty good.  The lettuce greens were fresh and flavorful.  Large chunks of crusty homemade croutons were on top.  The creamy balsamic vinegar was a wonderful taste sensation.  It was light, but had a great forward taste on my tongue.   

Not long after I finished my salad, the lasagna Bolognese came out to my table.  I was also ready for another glass of the very delicious Norton malbec.  Courtney brought me over another glass and asked if I needed anything else.  Nope!  I was ready to dig in. 

The lasagna wasn't all that large, but it was plenty enough.  It had layers of lasagna noodles with the ricotta cheese, sausage and beef lying between the pasta.  Mozzarella cheese was melted over the top and a sprinkle of parmesan topped the dish.  The Bolognese sauce had a wonderful sweet tomato taste and the sausage and beef were ample in that I had I bite of the meat with nearly every fork full I cut.  It's difficult to make bad lasagna, but it's even more difficult to make it taste great.  Mezzodi's lasagna Bolognese fit into the latter category.  

During the course of and directly after the meal, Courtney completely forgot about me.  I needed another napkin as I dropped mine on the floor.  She wasn't around, so I had to go over to the bar to get another napkin.  Then after I was finished, I was ready for my bill.  Once again, she was nowhere to be found.  I finally had to ask the bartender if he could find my server so I could get my bill.  About 10 minutes later, Courtney appeared with the bill.  I opened it up and immediately gave her my credit card.  She came back moments later and handed me the bill folder with my credit card.  She thanked me and walked away.  When I opened up the folder, I found that she forgot to include a pen.  I had to get a pen from the bartender just to sign off on my tab.  She got a couple dollars less than what I had planned on giving her.  That's one of my pet peeves about service at restaurants.  I don't want a server to be hovering over you during the course of your meal, but she needed to be a little more attentive.  And I didn't think it was all that busy in there that evening.

Nevertheless, despite her disappearing act, Courtney did a fine job up until the meal was served.   However, it didn't detract from the overall experience I had at Mezzodi's.  The bread was outstanding, the salad was very good and I will say the lasagna Bolognese was one of the best lasagna dishes I've had in quite sometime.  I sort of wish I would have had the experience of going to Mezzodi's when the Guidecessi's owned the place, but the team in place today acquitted themselves very well.  I would definitely recommend going to Mezzodi's for a good Italian meal when you're in Des Moines.     

The High Life Lounge - Des Moines

The High Life Lounge is a funky little 60's style bar/restaurant just south of downtown Des Moines that has been open since 2005. (see map)  I've been in the place a couple times in the past to have a beer (or six), but I'd been told their food is pretty good.  On a recent visit to the Des Moines area, I met up with a buddy who bought me lunch at High Life Lounge.  When he offered, I couldn't say no!

There's somewhat of a family lineage that involves High Life Lounge, El Bait Shop connected to High Life Lounge, and the Buzzard Billy's restaurants.  The story begins in 1993 when brothers Andy and Dan Massoth, along with business partners Chris Mayo and Tracy Maughan opened the first two Buzzard Billy's Cajun/American restaurants in Waco, TX and LaCrosse, WI operating as MSD Innovations, Inc.  Looking for another Midwest location in 1999, the group decided upon a Des Moines location in the basement of a building at 100 Court Ave. in the heart of the Court Avenue District of entertainment and eating establishments.  

Three of the workers at the Des Moines Buzzard Billy's - Jeff Bruning, Scott Alongi and Kent Middendorf - were lifelong friends from Carroll, IA graduating from Kuemper Catholic High School in 1988.  Only Alongi was looking to get into the restaurant business after high school - he graduated from a culinary school in Alabama.  Bruning and Middendorf had both graduated from college and had taken jobs in the private sector.  When both were laid off from their jobs, they decided to join Alongi who was already working at the Buzzard Billy's location.  Although both Bruning and Middendorf thought their time at Buzzard Billy's would be short, they ended up working nearly every position in the place - from cook to bartender to dishwasher to server.  The four partners in MSD Innovations were impressed with the work ethic of the guys from Carroll and the group of seven had many discussions about different concepts for restaurants.  

The group all agreed that a "beer-centric" concept would be the blueprint for any restaurant they'd develop in the future.  In 2001, the four MSD Innovations partners added the three guys from Carroll and created a new company - Full Court Press - named after the Court Avenue district they were trying to bring back to life.  The team opened the Royal Mile, a British-style pub, late in 2001; then other restaurants followed - the Hessen Haus, a German-style beer hall; the Red Monk, a Belgian-style bar above the Royal Mile; then the High Life Lounge, followed soon after by El Bait Shop.  Full Court Press also owns Fong's Pizza, Sbrocco, Shorty's, and Mullet's.  As more places opened, the seven partners in Full Court Press spun off other smaller ventures and added minority owners.  Today, there are 21 majority and minority owners of Full Court Press and/or other corporations under the FCP umbrella.

The allure of the High Life Lounge is the 60's-tacky theme to the place.  The bar floor is covered in a pseudo-shag carpet (although I have to say this looks newer than the carpet that was on the floor the last time I was in a couple three years ago).  The wood-paneled walls gives you the feeling like you're walking back into a 60's-style lounge, right down to the old Zenith tube television hanging in the corner above the bar area.  The vibe is retro and funky at the same time.  I've always loved going into the place.

I beat my friend there and took a seat at the bar.  He showed up shortly thereafter and sat beside me.  We looked over the menu and my friend said, "The best thing on the menu is the meat loaf dinner."  Indeed, the High Life Lounge had a number of down home, rib-sticking entrees to choose from.  They had a pot roast plate, tuna casserole, chicken pot pie, liver and onions, goulash, and beef stroganoff to just name a few of the comfort food entrees they offered.  One of their more popular items is the broasted chicken.  You start off by choosing two sides, then build your broasted chicken dinner from there, adding dark or white meat pieces ala carte.    

The menu features a number of interesting appetizers including the High Life Lounge's famous "Bacon-wrapped Tater Tots" -  homemade tator tots that are wrapped with jalapeno slices and bacon, then deep fried and smothered with a cheddar-jack cheese sauce.  Everyone I've talked to who has had that appetizer raves about it.  They also have classic 60's-style appetizers such as fried chicken gizzards, deviled eggs and classic-style thin-sliced onion rings.  For the health conscious, the High Life Lounge's menu also features a handful of salads and soups.

The High Life Lounge also offers nearly 20 sandwiches including a fried egg sandwich; a sloppy joe burger; a Spam, egg and cheese sandwich; and a sandwich called the "B.B.C" which has three slices of bacon, topped with three more strips of bacon, then topped with Swiss cheese and served on Texas toast.  They have burger baskets, Italian sandwiches with sausage from Graziano Brothers, and something called "The High Life Man" - a quarter pound burger with an Italian sausage patty, topped with three strips of bacon, Swiss American and American cheese, grilled onions and jalapenos, mayonnaise and BBQ sauce and served on a sesame-seed bun.  

Our bartender that day came over and told us the lunch special that day was the chicken fried steak.  My friend said, "Ooo, that sounds good!"

She said, "It is good!"  

My buddy said, "You know, I always seem to get the meat loaf every time I come here and I keep telling myself that I want to get something else.  I think I'm going to do the chicken fried steak special."  

I was torn between getting a pork tenderloin sandwich, the hot beef sandwich, or the meatloaf that my buddy had been raving about.  If he had gotten the meat loaf, I probably would have followed suit.  But when he ordered the chicken fried steak, I decided to go with the hot beef sandwich.   

Not long after we ordered, our food came out.  My hot beef sandwich had piece of Texas toast as the base, an ample amount of tender roast beef on top, then a generous scoop of mashed potatoes on top of that, and slathered in a tasty beef gravy.  From the first taste, it was wonderful.  Sometimes when I'm on the road, I need good, home-style comfort food to set my body back to normal.  I enjoyed a beer with my hot beef sandwich, but a large cold glass of milk would have gone extremely well with the lunch.    

My buddy's chicken fried steak came with the choice of two sides - he went with the corn and mashed potatoes - and the meal more than covered the plate.  He declared the chicken fried steak as "great" and he was very happy that he got that instead of the meat loaf.  He said, "Next time you come in here, whether you're with me or not, you really need to get the meat loaf.  Gosh, that's just like heaven for me."  

I was extremely happy with my hot beef.  I couldn't imagine the meat loaf being that much better than the hot beef.  It was truly one of the best hot beef sandwiches I've ever head.  

After we finished up - what we could, that is - we got to talking to the bartender after the place.  She told us that you can order food from El Bait Shop in the High Life Lounge.  "We share the same kitchen, part of it is for us, the other part for El Bait Shop," she explained.  "We get a lot of overflow from El Bait Shop at night and we let people order food over here who can't get a seat over there."  

I do want to make it to El Bait Shop at some point, but I would be perfectly happy with ordering their food in the High Life Lounge.  It's a fun and funky place to have a drink, and their food is certainly well-above average.  I'm glad that my buddy gave me the invitation for lunch that day.  It was about $25 bucks for the food and a couple beers each, I left the tip.  I had no idea that the food at the High Life Lounge was that good.  It may become my "go-to" bar when I'm in the Des Moines area.  (Photo at left courtesy Iowa Foodie)

La Pizza House - Des Moines

I arrived in Des Moines one evening and on the way there I had realized that I forgot to pack a cable that was imperative for a demonstration I was going to do the next morning.  I punched in a Best Buy location in my GPS that took me toward the south side of Des Moines.  As I was traveling down S.E. 14th St., I passed a place that I later figured I hadn't been to in nearly 25 years - La Pizza House.  I was sort of hungry and was actually planning on having dinner near my hotel that night.  But I doubled back and pulled into the parking lot at La Pizza House at the corner of S.E. 14th and Railroad Ave. (see map)

La Pizza House is a somewhat famous restaurant in the Des Moines area as they were one of the first places to serve pizza in town.  Partners Russ Reel and Abbie Polito opened La Pizza House in 1953 using recipes from the Polito family.  Peel and Polito were north side residents and friends who went to North High School together.  Their restaurant - also known as "Russ and Abbie's" to their local following - was an immediate hit.  They expanded their original location three times within the first seven years of business to handle the growing clientele. Both men ran the place until Abbie Polito retired in 1993.  Russ Reel continued to run the place until he reached his 86th birthday in 2010.  Not finding anyone wishing to buy the place at his price, he decided to shut it down.  Reel soon found himself with a mortgage that came due.  Owing over $160,000 on the building, it was foreclosed upon and Wells Fargo Bank came in to buy the building.

This is the part of the story where things get a little murky for me.   

Reel soon found that sitting around wasn't for him, so he decided to reopen La Pizza House less than a year later.  The only problem is that he didn't have the money to pay the bank to get the building back.  Local restaurateur Bob Etzel, Jr. came in and opened La Pizza House.  He put Reel in a management position while keeping the same menu and was able to get much of the same staff to come back to work.  

All the time Etzel was negotiating with the bank to buy the building at a price that was to his liking.  After months of fruitless negotiations, he decided to close it again in late 2011.  Just before Etzel was getting ready to close the business, two partners -  Joe Negrete and Louis Alafro - came in and bought the business.  They ran the restaurant for two weeks - yep, two weeks - before a familiar name came on the scene.  Enter Tom Polito, the son of co-founder Abbie Polito.

The younger Polito opened his own pizza place - Polito's Pizza - in nearby Bondurant in 2001.  Using a lot of the same recipes that were handed down from his father, Tom Polito built a thriving business in the small town northeast of Des Moines.  Negrete and Alafro, both of whom had experience in the restaurant business, mainly on the fast food side, bought the place from Etzel on Dec. 16 and sold it to Tom Polito on Dec. 29 of last year. Polito closed the restaurant for a few days for inspection and licensing, and reopened in early January of this year.  

Basically, everything is about the same in La Pizza House as it was 50 years ago.  I'm not certain the place changed much from the first time I was in the place in the mid-70's.  The outside had a very weathered look to the place. Inside, I found the same wood paneling, the same booths and tables, and the same sort of cozy feeling I got on my first visit 35 years ago.  La Pizza House is certainly a throwback to the 50's and 60's.    

The same kitchen facing S.E. 14th is fully functional at La Pizza House.  That was always one of the big things years ago at La Pizza House.  People waiting for tables and curious young kids would stand outside the big window and watch the cooks make the pizza.  Waiting for tables was a normal thing back in the hey-day of La Pizza House.  Other than one other couple in the place and some other people coming to pick up to-go orders, I was the only person in the place that evening.

I'm not certain the bar area was the same as I remember it, but I ended up sitting there.  A lady bartender, I'm guessing in her late 50's or early 60's - the kind that calls you "hon" or "honey" - gave me a menu and asked me what I wanted to drink.  I got a beer as I looked through the menu.

I do remember that La Pizza House had great onion rings.  I saw that they had half orders and I asked the bartender if I could get an order to munch on.  "Sure thing, hon", she said.  "I'll have it right up."  

When she brought out the plate of onion rings, I was sort of astonished at the size of a half-order.  It was huge, a lot more than what I would be able to eat if I was also getting a pizza.  But the onion rings were just as good as what I remembered.  They had a light, flaky coating over the sweet onions.  By the time I had my first onion ring finished, I had ordered up a small sausage, pepperoni and mushroom pizza.  

The pizza at La Pizza House is a thin crispy crust loaded with toppings, a somewhat sweet sauce and ample amounts of cheese on top.  I forgot that the pizza was oval in shape and cut into rectangular squares, similar to Quad City style pizza.  Also like Quad City style pizza, the sausage on a La Pizza House pizza is ground, but not as finely ground as you get in the Quad Cities.  And definitely not as bland as Quad City style sausage. 

The pizza was exactly as I remembered.  The thin crust was chewy, yet crispy.  The overall taste of the sausage, pepperoni and mushroom was very good.  I faintly remembered the overall taste of the pizza from a number of years ago.   As far as Des Moines pizza is concerned, I'm still a little partial to the pizza at Noah's Ark and Chuck's.  But I will have to say La Pizza House gives both of them a run for their money. Between the onion rings and the pizza, it was more than enough for two people.  But since I was traveling and I was sure that I wouldn't have a refrigerator in my room, I left a lot at the bar.    

I got to talking to a guy behind the bar, someone who I thought was Tom Polito as he kept talking about his dad and his family running the place.  It turned out that we had a friend in common whose father used to bartend at  La Pizza House back in the 60's before he moved his family to Newton to run a gas station along the interstate.  "He thwarted an armed robbery one night," the man behind the bar was telling me.  "He just told the robbers, 'No! I'm not giving you the money!' And they ran off!  He was one tough cuss!"

Even though it was nearly 25 years since I was last in La Pizza House, not much - if anything - has changed over the years.  The pizza is still well above average, the onion rings are delicious, and there's still that same homey, neighborhood feeling to the place.  There may be other pizza places in the area that are better, but not by much.  Don't let the tired decor and the hardened facade scare you away.  La Pizza House is one of the great old school pizza restaurants in the Midwest.

B-Bop's - Urbandale, IA

B-Bop's is a seven location local burger chain based out of Des Moines that actually got its start a number of years ago as part of a concept that came out the old Mr. Quick fast food restaurants from the 70's and 80's. It had been quite sometime since I'd had a burger at B-Bop's, and as I was driving along I-80 recently I decided to get off at the NW 86th St. exit and head south to the corner of Meredith Drive and 86th to the B-Bop's located there (see map).

The man behind B-Bop's is Illinois native Bob Johnson who first worked at a Mr. Quick fast food franchise in Princeton, IL beginning in 1971.  Working his way up to assistant manager in a short period, Johnson caught the eye of Mr. Quick management back at the company's headquarters in Moline, IL.  He was offered a franchise partnership for a Mr. Quick location that was opening just off of Interstate 80 in my hometown of Newton, IA.  Johnson moved to Newton after Mr. Quick was built and began his career as a franchise partner with the company.  Johnson eventually put in Mr. Quick locations in Muscatine, IA and Fairfield, IA before he split with the Mr. Quick organization in 1983 and renamed his restaurants Sizzlin' Sam's.

Here's the personal part of the story - I lived right behind the Mr. Quick location in Newton for about four years in an apartment building that was separated by an open field that is now a Super 8 motel.  I can't tell you how many times I walked across the weed-strewn field to get a burger or a hot ham and cheese sandwich at Mr. Quick.  (Photo at right courtesy RoundAmerica.com) 

There were many quirky things about Mr. Quick, as well.  I knew some people who worked for Bob Johnson and he insisted that the workers address him as "Mr. Johnson".  Line cooks and counter workers were also expected to address store managers and assistant managers as "Mister" as a sign of respect.  I thought it all was very pretentious on the part of Bob Johnson and used to somewhat make fun of it when I'd talk to others about Mr. Quick.  I had some friends who worked there over the years and they all thought it was rather strange and somewhat demeaning to have to refer to ownership and management in such a stiff and formal manner.   But, hey, sometimes kids need that sort of structure in their lives, so who am I to judge?

The other thing that I used to get a kick out of was the unique language Mr. Quick workers used when the counter workers would shout back the orders to the line cooks.  For example, an order that consisted of a double cheeseburger with extra ketchup and no pickles with an order of fries was yelled out, "Double CB, extra K, hold the p, and one!"  The "one" being the fries.  Onion rings were "golden o's".  Milk was called "Grade A".  When the line cooks didn't hear the order clearly, they'd yell out, "Echo! Echo!"  I used to laugh when they'd do that.  (And I still do, just thinking about it.)  It was somewhat overblown pomposity in nature. 

I had a friend who was rather smart - and who was somewhat of a smart-ass at times - who used to work at Mr. Quick in high school.  I liked to go to Mr. Quick with him and he'd order in the Mr. Quick language to the counter workers.  They'd look at him like he was from Mars before they'd catch on that he used to work at Mr. Quick.  I had to stifle outright laughter when he did it.

In the late 70's and early 80's, a number of hamburger places - primarily in the Southwest part of the U.S. - began a concept of double drive-thru lanes at their restaurants.  Generally, there was no indoor seating like you found at a place like Mr. Quick/Sizzlin' Sam's, and a walk-up window was available for those who either rode bikes, motorcycles or simply walked up to the location.  Bob Johnson saw this concept as the future of fast food business and started the first B-Bop's near the corner of NE 14th and Euclid Ave. in Des Moines in 1988.  That location is still there today (see map).   

Johnson uses the same cooking procedures at B-Bop's that he had in place for years at Mr. Quick/Sizzlin' Sam's.  The burgers are cooked on a Neico gas flame automatic broiler that rotated a metal grated treadmill over and under an open flame that cooked both sides of the burger as it passed through.  There was a separate rotating metal treadmill at the bottom to toast buns.  It was a quick and efficient way to cook burgers.  Quite actually, the burgers at Mr. Quick/Sizzlin' Sam's, and subsequently at B-Bop's, were not necessarily of the fast food variety as burgers were made to order and were never cooked before and set in warming bins like you found at places like McDonald's or Burger King.  That's what helped make the Mr.Quick/Sizzlin' Sam's/B-Bop's burgers a little more desirable compared to other fast food places.

The B-Bop's concept took off and quickly became one of the favorite drive-thru burger joints in the greater Des Moines area.  Johnson ultimately sold off or closed down his three Sizzlin' Sam's locations and focused primarily on the B-Bop's restaurants that he was opening or franchising in the Central Iowa area.  Today, you'll find 4 B-Bop's in the greater Des Moines area, a location in Ankeny, a location in Altoona and a B-Bop's in nearby Ames.  

All the B-Bop's offer the same menu of burgers, pork tenderloins (called "fritters" at B-Bop's), fried or broiled chicken sandwiches, a fish sandwich, and something known as a Sloppy Joe Slider - a loose-meat burger with a tomato-based sauce mixed in served on a small bun.  And interestingly while B-Bop's has French fries and chicken nuggets on their menu, they don't have onion rings.  The onion rings at the old Mr. Quick/Sizzlin' Sam's were actually pretty good.  But the breadth of the menu items at B-Bop's is significantly smaller than what was offered at Mr. Quick/Sizzlin' Sam's.  

Pulling up to the B-Bop's in Urbandale, you have your choice of either going to the right for driver side service, or to the left for passenger side service.  That works well when you have a passenger who can order from that side, be able to pay for and receive the food as it comes out through the window.  But because most people coming into B-Bop's are alone, the line to the right is usually longer.   

The menu board is located at the entrance of the drive-thru lane.  A two-way speaker system is located on top of the menu board.  I didn't want much that day so I just ordered one of the 1/4 pound cheeseburger deluxe burgers - basically a quarter pound cheeseburger with all the regular condiments along with shredded lettuce, a slice of tomato and mayo added on.  It's literally the same thing that I was having at Mr. Quick/Sizzlin' Sam's back in Newton 30 plus years ago.

Because you can't go inside, I don't know if they use the same language to shout out orders at B-Bop's as they used to at Mr. Quick/Sizzlin' Sam's.  I'm guessing with the success Bob Johnson has had over the years, the language probably hasn't changed in any of his restaurants.    

Because of the long line of cars in front of me, by the time I made it to the window and handed over my money for the burger, it was sitting in a sack on the counter.  The window guy who took my ordered handed me the sack.  There's a parking lot for a strip mall behind B-Bop's and past experiences dictate that I needed to be stopped and parked if I was going to be eating the deluxe cheeseburger.

One of the signatures of a Bob Johnson-corporate restaurant over the years is that they serve the burgers in a styrofoam container.  I'm sure Mr. Johnson has his reasons for this, but B-Bop's may be the only fast-style burger place that still uses styrofoam that I know of.  I don't think this styrofoam container is bio-degradable or recyclable, but I may be mistaken.  In any event, it didn't have any signs of being recyclable on the outside of the container. 

The burger was basically similar to the taste of the old Mr. Quick/Sizzlin' Sam's burgers.  It had a pleasant charbroiled taste to the meat and it was loaded with an almost excessive amount of lettuce and mayonnaise.  The sesame seed bun was toasted enough that it had a good flavor and it held the burger together very well.  However, with each bite globs of shredded lettuce and mayo would fall from the sandwich - some of which didn't hit the styrofoam container if you catch my drift.  Thankfully, B-Bop's include at least three napkins in each sack per burger.  You'll need them for a deluxe cheeseburger.

I see from time to time that B-Bop's gets local awards for having the best burgers and fries in Central Iowa as voted upon by their customers.  Compared to other fast food restaurants, I would rather eat at a B-Bop's than a national chain.  It's more "fast food as ordered" than what you find at a typical fast food chain.  But I certainly can't say that the burgers at B-Bops are all that great.  They're certainly good for what they are and it's worth a stop if you're in a hurry and need a burger fix.    

Francie's - Des Moines

Years ago, I used to frequent a place on Des Moines' south side, near the Des Moines International Airport, by the name of Francie's.  A friend of mine who was also a manufacturer's representative liked to go there for lunch and we'd meet there from time to time.  It had been a very long time since I had been in Francie's and I decided to stop in for lunch on a recent visit to Des Moines.

Francie's first opened in 1958 and was actually run by a guy by the name of Francie.  But I couldn't find any other information on Francie, other than his boys would help him out at the bar from time to time.  Today, Greg and Susie Fontanini are the managing partners in Francie's.  Greg is the son of the late Sarg Fontanini, a well-known amateur golfer in the Des Moines area who won many tournaments just up and across Fleur Drive on the Wakonda Club golf course.  

My buddy, Randy Adams, had to go to Des Moines a few months ago and he and his wife, Lorrie, had dinner at Francie's.  Randy texted me and said, "Man, great reuben sandwich at this place."  And I knew exactly what he was talking about.  I do remember Francie's as having one of the best reubens I'd ever had.  Years ago, I wasn't big on corned beef, but I fell in love with the reuben sandwiches at Francie's.  It was tough to beat.

It was after 1:30 when I pulled into Francie's.  The bar and grill is tucked away just off of Fleur Drive on Wakonda View Drive (see map).  There's a nice sized parking lot off to the side and there was plenty of parking after the noon lunch rush.  I went in and took a seat in a booth in the corner of the place.  Since it had been years since I'd last been in Francie's, I really didn't remember if anything had changed, save for the number of flat panel televisions now throughout the place.  

The dining area at Francie's is totally encased in wood - wood ceilings, wood paneling for the walls.  Sturdy high wooden tables with wooden stools.  And, of course, the wooden bar.  Francie's isn't all that big and it can get crowded in the place.  And loud.  I do remember that it can get loud.

My waitress for the day came over to give me a menu and asked if I wanted something to drink.  I thought a beer would be good and I got a bottle of Bud Light.  I looked through the menu and refamilarized myself with what Francie's had to offer.  In addition to their wonderful reubens, I do remember that Francie's has a pretty good burger, as well as an outstanding Philly cheesesteak sandwich.  

I hemmed and hawed over getting a burger, but the reuben kept calling my name.  I remember the corned beef being fresh, tasty and tender.  I'm not certain, but I think Francie's also made their own 1000 Island dressing.  When my waitress came back to take my order, I couldn't resist getting the reuben.  I had my choice of sides and I decided to get the fries with the sandwich.  

As I waited for my sandwich to come out, a couple had sat in the booth next to me.  I heard the young lady say, "Oh, boy!  I've been craving a Francie's reuben all day long!"  When the waitress brought out my sandwich, the woman said, "How did she know I wanted a reuben?  Oh wait!  It's his!"

The reuben featured lightly toasted rye bread with succulent chunks of Swiss cheese covered corned beef piled high in between the bread.  Ample amounts of sauerkraut and a generous amount of 1000 Island dressing was on the sandwich.  I usually ask for additional 1000 Island dressing on the side, but it really wasn't needed on the Francie's reuben.  But it was far from overpowering and sloppy.

The reuben was, in a word, outstanding.  From the first bite, I remembered how I also used to crave the reubens at Francie's years ago.  The corned beef that they use is so tender that it almost melts in your mouth.  It has such a great taste and is still one of the better reubens I've had.  

The fries were the standard crinkle cut variety and pretty basic.  But I was there for the reuben.  I touched a few of the fries, but I ended up finishing off the sandwich with no problem.  My waitress came back a couple times to check on me and did a good job as a server. 

I get back to Des Moines quite a bit since it's on the way to and from Kansas City, Lincoln and Omaha.  Francie's is not far off the southern freeway by-pass that I like to take around Des Moines when I come up from Kansas City.   If I'd not stayed on the south side of Des Moines on a previous evening, I probably wouldn't have remembered Francie's.  But seeing it as I drove by that one day brought back good memories of good food in a nice little neighborhood-style bar and grill.  It had been well over 10 years since I'd last been to Francie's, but I'm sure it won't be that long until my next visit.     

Sonny's Pizza Bistro - Des Moines

I have to apologize to whoever it was who suggested I try Sonny's Pizza Bistro located in the Saylorville area just north of Des Moines (see map). I really need to do a better job of acknowledging those who turn me on to places to try. Sonny's was described to me as having great pizza, excellent sandwiches and some pretty terrific pasta dishes. I always get a little leery of those kinds of unsolicited accolades, but I decided to give Sonny's a try one evening when I was in Des Moines recently. 

Sonny's is owned by John Vacco (pronounced VOCK-o) and his wife, Quinby. The Vacco name is somewhat famous around the Des Moines area as John's older brother Mike (a.k.a. "Scorno") owned and ran Scornovacca's Pizza since it opened in 1973.  Scornovacca is the true Italian name of the family, shortened to "Vacca" when Grandpa Martin Scornovacca came to America from Italy in 1914.  At some point, a typist's error changed the family name to "Vacco".  Mike's parents, Roscoe and Anne Marie Vacco, had a chance to open a pizza restaurant in the early 70's, but Roscoe had a full time job.  He got his son Mike to run the business with the help of Anne Marie using family recipes.  It has been years since I've been in Scornovacca's.     

Unfortunately, Mike Vacco died in August of 2010.  His youngest sister, Amy, now runs the business.  The Vacco's are a big family - 11 kids came from Roscoe and Anne Marie.  I casually knew a couple of them years and years ago - Vic and Rocco (I always that was sort of cool - Rocco Vacco) - through friends I had made when I dated a girl to went to Dowling Catholic High School back in the early 70's.  They seemed like pretty nice guys.    

Sonny's Pizza Bistro was opened by John and Quinby Vacco about seven years ago.  I've been told that while many of the recipes are the same as the Scornovacca's, John uses his own little signatures in the dishes, pizzas and sandwiches to make them a little different from his family's restaurant on the southside of Des Moines.  

Sonny's Pizza Bistro is sort of out in the sticks in the middle of Saylor Township, north of Des Moines and south of Ankeny.  It's located on a corner, just across the road from a Casey's General Store.  It isn't all that big on the inside - there's a bar area with some tables as you come in, and a separate dining area off to the side with nice tables with dark tablecloths covered by paper.  The old-style ice cream parlor wooden chairs are pretty comfortable to sit in.  A large party of about 14 people was in the bar area, so I took a seat at one of the tables back in the other dining room.  There is an outside dining patio, but it was spitting rain that particular evening, so no one was outside.

My waitress came over and gave me a menu to look over.  Even though I was going to get a pizza, I took a look at what else they had to offer at Sonny's Pizza Bistro.  There were a number of sandwiches, pasta dishes, salads and appetizers on the menu.  But I was set on getting a pizza.

They have 3 different sizes of pizza at Sonny's - a 6" personal pizza, a 10" and a 14".  I wondered if a 10" would be too much and decided to ask the waitress about the 6" personal sized pizza.  She said, "Yeah, that's pretty small.  If you're hungry, you could probably eat one of our 10" pizzas."  Well, I was hungry and I also figured that what I couldn't eat, I could take back to the hotel and put into the refrigerator in my room and heat it up for breakfast in the in-room microwave in the morning.  I ordered my usual Italian sausage, pepperoni and mushroom pizza.  

It took about 20 minutes for the pizza to come to the table.  It had a golden-reddish caramelizing of the cheese on top.  The cheese and toppings were plentiful and very fresh.  There was a slight Italian herb taste to the somewhat sweet pizza sauce that Sonny's used.  The mushrooms were very fresh and very flavorful.  And it was cut "party style" with the wonderful "honey pot" square center pieces.  These are the best pizzas. 

But there was something sort of wrong with the pizza. I kept getting this somewhat burnt taste with each bite I took.  I'd had a couple pieces of pizza and I knew that something just wasn't clicking with my taste buds.  It was when I turned over the piece pictured on the left that I figured out what was wrong.  The crust was horribly burned.  I didn't know if this was an anomaly or the norm for a Sonny's Pizza.  I just thought it was a little strange.

Right when I took this picture, a man who had been talking with the group of people seated in the bar area came back to check on me.  The piece was still upside down on the tray and he immediately said, "Oh, my gosh!  That's burnt, isn't it?  I'll get you a new pizza right away."  

I didn't have time to protest, to say "Thanks!" or anything.  He disappeared back into the kitchen area.  The waitress came out and said, "Oh boy! That IS burnt, isn't it?  We're going to give you a whole new pizza at no charge."  Well, that was certainly nice of them.  I didn't want to pay for two pizzas, that's for sure.

The second pizza came out and it was much better than the first one.   This time the cheese wasn't as caramelized as the first one, and the crust was far from burnt.  But that smoky, burnt taste was prevalent as it was with the first one.  After a couple pieces, I decided that even though the crust was just a little too thick, I liked the taste of the pizza.  The sauce was good - a little sweet for me - got good, the sausage had a good fennel taste to it, the pepperoni was pleasurably spicy with a little kick to it, and the mushrooms were overly fresh.  

I wasn't able to finish all of the 10" pizza at Sonny's.  Having three pieces of the previous burnt pizza had something to do with that.  But the fact that they throw on a ton of cheese and toppings on their pizza had a lot to do with that.  I was able to eat just one piece more than half the pizza, having the waitress give me a box to take the rest with me.

The waitress brought my bill out and she said, "We just charged you for your beers.  The pizza is on us."  

I said, "Oh, no.  You didn't have to do that.  The second one was fine and I didn't mind the wait."  

She said, "Oh, no.  The owner insists."  She got a nice tip.  

As I was walking through the bar area, the owner stopped me and said, "Hey, I'm really sorry for burning the first pizza."  He introduced himself as John Vacco, the owner.  

I said, "I used to know a couple of your brothers years and years ago.  Vic and Rocco."  

John pointed to the group at the large table near the bar and said, "Rocco was just here!"  It turned out that many of the people at the table were Vacco's including John's mother, Anne Marie.  We talked briefly about some of the people I knew from Dowling when I was growing up in Newton and they recognized the name of one of my friends who I knew.  I said, "I didn't know Vic or Rocco well, but knew them well enough to say, 'Hi'. I had been places where they had been with other friends I knew.  But this was, geez, 35 years ago.  So I'm sure I wouldn't have recognized him sitting with all these people."  

John asked me to come back again and I said I would.  And I will.  I did like the pizza at Sonny's Pizza Bistro.  Once again, Chuck's and Noah's Ark remain my gold standard for pizza in the Des Moines area, with The Tavern coming in closely behind.  But Sonny's is banging at the door, I'm telling you.  Once they got the pizza right, it was very good.  The plentiful cheese and toppings were outstanding.  The service was over the top and I think they were all genuinely embarrassed for the condition of the first pizza.  They did the right thing by getting me another pizza.  And that's the great thing about little family restaurants like Sonny's - they always do the right thing.   

Bordenaro's Pizza - Des Moines

My buddy, Jeff (Burph) Versteegh continues to turn me on to pizza places around the Des Moines area.  One that he'd heard of, but hadn't been to yet, was called Bordenaro's Pizza on the far south side of the city.  I was staying at a hotel near the airport one evening recently and decided to find Bordenaro's and give them a try.  

While I grew up not far from Des Moines in Newton and lived there off and on until 1991, I had never heard of Bordenaro's before.  I'm not that surprised because there's a lot of old places in Des Moines that I wasn't familiar with until I began to write this blog six and a half years ago.  Bordenaro's has been in business since 1977 when Tom Bordenaro opened the doors to his little establishment.   The Bordenaro's family continues to run the restaurant with Tom's son Chris overseeing the day-to-day operations.  Chris' brother, Todd Bordenaro, is the general manager and director of operations for the historic Hotel Pattee in Perry, IA.  

Bordenaro's Pizza is located at the corner of SW 9th and Leland Ave. on the far south side of Des Moines.  (See map)  It was late when I got into Bordenaro's for dinner that one particular evening.  Even though it was after 9 p.m., there was a pretty good sized crowd in the main dining room. They serve up to 10 p.m. on weeknights, 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.  They serve lunch from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Bordenaro's is closed on Sunday.   

The interior of Bordenaro's isn't anything fancy.  Booths line the long walls of the dining room with basic restaurant tables and chairs in the middle.  A larger table is back toward what used to be the front of the restaurant.  Bordenaro's expanded a few years ago to include a second dining room that can be used as a private room for parties and other functions.  And they also have an outdoor seating area for when the weather gets warmer.  I took a seat at one of the booths along the wall.  (Photo courtesy Des Moines Register.)

A short waitress with curly blonde hair framing her face came over to greet me as I pulled a menu out of the holder on top of the table.  She was sort of sassy and brassy from the get-go.  I immediately liked her.  I ordered up a beer and took a look at what they had to offer at Bordenaro's.  

The menu (pictured left - click on it to enlarge) is very basic at Bordenaro's.  In addition to their signature pizzas, they have basic pasta dishes, sandwiches, and a slew of appetizers.  I understand Bordenaro's onion rings are some of the best in Des Moines.  I saw a couple orders sitting on a couple tables that had been pushed together to accommodate a large group of people.  They looked good.  

But I was there to try the pizza.  Of course, I had to get a sausage, pepperoni and mushroom - my reference pizza.  Bordenaro's pizzas come in three sizes - 10", 12" and 14".  I got the 10" size.

Since it was late and the pizza at Bordenaro's is a very thin crust, it didn't take long for my waitress to bring my pizza to the table.  Parmesan cheese, red pepper flakes and dried oregano are provided on the tables for the pizza.  I'm beginning to really like putting dried oregano on my pizza.

I could tell from first looks that the mushrooms were canned and not fresh cut.  Not a deal breaker for me when it comes to mushrooms on pizza, but it is for some people.  There was an ample amount of large slices of pepperoni on top, along with a good amount of mozzarella cheese.  I began to look around for the sausage.  I realized that it was ground sausage.  Once again, not something that I like on a pizza, but I will still eat it.  

My first bite of a Bordenaro's pizza - as with any pizza - was void of any additives of parmesan, pepper flakes or oregano.  And the taste was a combination of a somewhat sweet pizza sauce and a spicy and tangy sensation on my tongue.  I sort of picked up the cheese topping and looked under there to check out the ground sausage.  They spiced the sausage up enough to give it a little kick on the taste buds.  The sauce was a little too sweet for me, but it still passed my test of tasting good with a cold beer.  

There are other pizza places around Des Moines that use ground sausage instead of the big chunks that I like on my pizza.  This is mainly due to many of the pizza places around Des Moines using Graziano Brothers sausage.  I guessed that Bordenaro's was no different from many of the others around the area.  But it was like they really souped up the spiciness to the taste of the sausage.  

A 10" thin-crust pizza is pretty easy to down for me.  The crust was crisp, but not cracker thin.  The overall taste of the pizza was good - very good, in fact.  Like I said, the sauce was a little too sweet for me.  But I have to say that for a little pizza place on the south side of Des Moines they do a pretty damn good pizza.

The total bill for the pizza a couple beers and a nice tip for my waitress was $20 bucks.  As I was leaving, the waitress thanked me for coming in.  I stopped and said, "Do you guys use Graziano Brothers sausage on your pizza?"  

She sort of shrugged her shoulders and looked toward a gentleman sitting at the bar by the kitchen.  It was Chris Bordenaro, the proprietor.  He said, "No, we do our own sausage.  We get our sausage from Brewer Meats.  They're a wholesaler and a lot of places get their meats from Brewer's.  In fact, that's where Graziano's gets their meat."

I said, "It was sure spicy!"

Chris Bordenaro beamed and said, "Thank you!  That's what we're going for!"  

While I prefer the pizza from Chuck's or from Noah's Ark more than the pizza at Bordenaro's, I would still have to say it was very good for what it was.  Once again, the sauce was a little too sweet for me and the ground sausage - while good and spicy - was, well, ground.  I still think chunky fennel sausage is the best to put on a pizza.  But that's just my tastes and likes.  I'm sure there are many people who think Bordenaro's is the best pizza around.  The taste signature is certainly unique and I'm sure that's what the Bordenaro family is going for.  

Jethro's Barbecue and Jambalaya - West Des Moines, IA

The third location under the Jethro's Barbecue umbrella opened late in 2011 out in West Des Moines - Jethro's Barbecue and Jambalaya - taking the best of Jethro's barbecue from their original restaurant on Forest Avenue in Des Moines near Drake University and adding a number of Cajun specialties. I visited the Jethro's Barbecue in Des Moines last year (click here to read that entry) and came away sort of impressed with their barbecue. Their second location in eastern suburban Altoona, IA - Jethro and Jake's Smokehouse Steaks - takes the Jethro's Barbecue and pairs it with a steakhouse theme. When I found out that the third Jethro's had a Cajun twist to their food, I immediately put it on my list of restaurants to visit. During a trip to Des Moines a few weeks ago, I decided to stop in for lunch.

Des Moines developer/restaurateur Bruce Gerleman designed his third Jethro's location similar to the original one in Des Moines - exposed wood rafters, open floor plan, corrugated metal walls in the bathrooms giving the decor kind of a "shack" feel. (I haven't been to the one in Altoona, but I'm guessing it's similar to the other two.) The West Des Moines location is located on University Ave. just west of 92nd St. in West Des Moines and Boone Drive in Waukee (see map). It's kind of confusing as West Des Moines is on the south side of University and Waukee is across the street to the north. My GPS was equally confused after I put in the address and it tried to get me to turn into the Des Moines Golf and Country Club. But there was no entrance. I continued down the road a bit and saw Jethro's on the corner of a small strip mall just past 92nd St.

It was just after 1 p.m. when I got into Jethro's in West Des Moines and the lunch rush was in full swing. This Jethro's location is about double the size of the one near Drake University and also has a party room toward the back that can be used for overflow when it's not in use for private functions. The bar is similar to the original Jethro's with three sides surrounding tin corrugated culvert tubes stretching from the middle part of the inner bar to the ceiling holding the spigots of draft beer. 

And like the Drake location, there is a "Wall of Fame" and a "Wall of Shame" for those who have tried the Adam Emmenecker sandwich challenge - a behemoth sandwich named after a former Drake University men's basketball star that features Jethro's huge pork tenderloin, then add an Angus steak burger, they they top that with mounds of Texas brisket, applewood bacon and then fried cheese. They finish the toppings with buffalo chicken tenders and smother the mountain of beef and pork with melted cheddar and white cheddar sauce. 

This is Matt Meszaros, a young man from the Des Moines area who - if you believe the Adam Emmenecker web site devoted to the sandwich - has the record of consuming at least 25 of the sandwiches. Meszaros is the man behind the Des Moines Egotist website that follows Central Iowa advertising and marketing. One thing I have to tell Matt - I used to be your size at one time. While I probably couldn't have eaten one Adam Emmenecker sandwich, let alone at least 25, I probably would have made a serious dent in one when I was your age. But I have to tell you - age catches up with you and most people's metabolism slows down pretty quickly after the age of 40. And it's a lot tougher to drop 50 pounds after the age of 40. Believe me.

While the dining area was pretty full and there were tables available, I decided to sit at the bar which was about 2/3rd's full. A perky young girl by the name of Alicia greeted me with a menu and asked if I wanted anything to drink. I took a quick look at what they had to offer on their beer menu and I noticed they had an unnamed Samuel Adams seasonal. I asked Alicia what it was and she said it was called Alpine Spring. "It's light like a lager, but has sort of a hoppy taste," she explained. She offered me a small glass to taste it and I thought it was fine. I ordered a 16 oz. glass of that.

While Jethro's Barbecue and Jambalaya did have a number of barbecue items on their menu, I was interested primarily on the Cajun specialties listed under "Jasper's Cajun Favorites". There weren't a lot of entrees to choose from - jambalaya, chicken and sausage gumbo, crawfish etouffee, and red beans and "nice" rice - but you could combine them with ribs and other barbecue combinations. I really wanted to try a cup of gumbo along with the jambalaya, but it appeared that the gumbo was only available as an entree. When Alicia asked me if I had any questions, I asked her if the gumbo was available in anything smaller than the entree. She opened up my menu and pointed to a cup of gumbo that was toward the front of the menu. I said, "Perfect! I'll take a cup of gumbo and the jambalaya!"

She brought the gumbo out first. It had a dab of rice on top, topped with chopped green onions. It was a nice presentation. It had a lot of shredded chicken and long slices of smoked andouille sausage. In fact, the slices were cut long-ways and almost needed to be cut in half to get them on the soup spoon. I prefer smaller chunks of sausage in my gumbo, but I could live with it.

The gumbo (below left) was, well, different. While it was thick and rich, I can't really say the taste was bad, but it wasn't great, either. It had a little spicy zip to the taste, but the roux was sort of "eh!". I added copious amounts of Tabasco sauce throughout the eating process to help with the taste. I can't say that it was bland, but it had a different taste than any gumbo I'd ever had. I'm not certain I cared for it.  No, actually, I didn't care for it all.

After finishing the gumbo, Alicia brought out a huge bowl of the jambalaya (above right). The gumbo was very filling and I knew that I wouldn't be able to finish the jambalaya. I could only hope to make a dent in it. While the jambalaya looked scrumptious with large chunks of sliced andouille sausage and small shrimp in a very thick rich tomato-base broth with rice, the smell was something else. Even though they put what seemed to be a bushel of fresh chopped green onions on top of the jambalaya, I could easily smell the fishy-ness from the shrimp. The first bite of one of the shrimp on top of the jambalaya was very fishy in taste. The shrimp they used had to be old and I was sort of contemplating sending it back. I had another shrimp that wasn't as fishy in taste - probably because it couldn't get any worse than the first shrimp I had - and decided to keep eating.  I joked to a friend later on that they probably got the shrimp out of the nearby Raccoon River.   

When Alicia came back to check on me and asked me how the jambalaya was, I said, "All right." I lied. Big time. The bottom line - the jambalaya wasn't very good. I wasn't overly enamored with the gumbo, but the jambalaya was worse. But Alicia was so nice and helpful that I didn't want to say anything to her. So that's why I have a blog.

I was overly disappointed in their Cajun food at Jethro's Barbecue and Jambalaya. My overall sentiment is that they need to stick to barbecue, which Jethro's does all right, and forget about the Cajun food. This won't stop me from going to one of the Jethro's locations in the future for barbecue. But I think I know Cajun food pretty well and this was not good. 

Zombie Burger - Des Moines

Zombie Burger is a fairly new (opened August 31, 2011) burger joint in the e300 building on E. Grand in Des Moines' historic East Village entertainment, shopping and restaurant district, near the state capitol building (see map). Their style of making a burger is similar to a growing number of places that smash the burger patty onto a flat iron grill causing the juices to char the outside of the burger. For years, that went against every fiber of burger cooking in my body. However, I've rapidly warmed up to this style of cooking a burger and I was interested in giving it a try. A good friend, Denny Duncan, was telling me about the place and I was able to stop into Zombie Burger for lunch during a recent trip to Des Moines.

Zombie Burger is the brainchild of chef/restaurateur George Formaro, a Des Moines native and the owner and head chef at restaurants such as Centro, Django, South Union Bakery (and the South Union Bread Cafe) and Gateway Market and Cafe. Formaro took his love of zombie horror movies - something that is big with the 14 to 35 age demographic group these days - and turned it into a pop-culture themed burger restaurant.

The contemporary industrial design of the restaurant is interspersed with individual and mural paintings of zombies. Large windows allow a large amount of natural light to come in, with contemporary lighting filling in when the sun goes down. One would think a theme restaurant featuring zombies would be sort of drab and dreary, but it was far from that.

It was around 2 p.m. when I made it into Zombie Burger. There is parking on the east side of the e300 building - it's angled, back-in only, a new parking concept that I had never seen before. I'm guessing that it's that way for easier traffic management - not that there's a lot of traffic that I could see on that side street. There's two entrances to Zombie Burger - the southeast corner entrance takes you into a carry-out only/overflow area (below left) where you can order your burgers to go, or pick up orders that were phoned ahead. The main dining room is on the other side of the building and you walk through outside seating to get to that entrance. I was greeted by a guy just inside the door and he asked me if I wanted to sit at the bar. Sure, that works fine with me.

The back bar area featured a full variety of liquor and main-stream and micro-brewed beers. Zombie memorabilia was placed on top of the liquor cabinets. A menu that was fashioned to be a Zombie-style newspaper, complete with fictionalized stories about zombies, was in front of me on the bar when I sat down. They had Bell's Two Hearted India pale ale on tap and I got that as I perused the offerings.

All the burgers have a zombie theme name to them. They ranged from the basic Zombie burger - cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion and a homemade Zombie sauce, to the Undead Elvis - fried bananas, peanut butter, bacon, egg, mayo and cheese that pays homage to Elvis Presley's favorite food - a friend banana and peanut butter sandwich. (That just doesn't sound good to me.) They also had the Dead Moines burger - smoked gouda, fried prosciutto, ham and truffle mayo (that sounded better), and the Redneck Zombie with bologna pâté, pimento and American cheese, chicken fried bacon (ooo... that's interesting), and ranch dressing.

In addition to a myriad of different types of burgers on the menu, Zombie Burger also features a number of various styles of deep-fried hot dogs, appetizers that feature fried brussel sprouts (uh, no), fried pickles, Zombie nachos with shredded adobe pork, guacamole and cheddar cheese, and something interesting called fried buffalo bacon. They also had a number of different appetizers featuring French fries - cheese fries, chili cheese fries, VEGGIE chili cheese fries, bleu cheese and bacon fries, the list went on and on. The most interesting part of the fries appetizers was the Zombie poutine fries, a variation of the French-Canadian dish that features fries with cheese curds and gravy. I had poutine - once - a number of years ago and my arteries just recently softened enough for my blood to flow freely through my body.

Zombie Burger also caters to families as they also have a number of eclectic milkshakes including the Tallahassee - vanilla ice cream, a Twinkie and cherry Kool-Aid powder, as well as the Zombie Bride Wedding Cake Shake - vanilla ice cream with yellow cake mix. Hmm... Dunno about that.

You order your burger with either one, two or three patties, each are a quarter pound BEFORE cooking. That's a very important thing to consider when you're talking about smashed burgers - or bashed burgers, as they call them at Zombie Burger. I went with the T-Virus burger - a single - that featured Swiss cheese, a grilled portobello mushroom, topped with lettuce, tomato, onion and mayo. I got a side of their regular French fries to try, as well.

The burger came out in a basket with the fries and the presentation was very nice. The bun was lightly toasted, the burger patty was smashed enough that it was sticking out over the perimeter of the bottom bun, and the golden crips fries were ample in their number. I was ready to dig in.

The burger itself, was pretty damn good. The bun - which I'm guessing was made in Formaro's South Union Bakery - was spongy-soft and chewy. The only problem was that there was too much bun for the burger that I got. The premium beef patty was pretty thin and a double would have been much better. A single patty allowed the bun to overpower the burger, something that shouldn't happen in my book. But a second patty would have been the right combination to go with the very good bun.

The portobello mushroom was a wonderful topping to the burger. It had a great sauteed taste to it and went with the burger very well. Once again, it would have been even better if there was more meat on the burger. Next time - a double, that's for sure.

The fries were very crisp and very good. They weren't limp in any stretch of the word and had a nice crunchiness to them with each bite. They'd have to be that way if you're having them with cheese, chili, cheese curds and/or gravy.

I was impressed with Zombie Burger. Everything was very good about the place - the zombie-themed decor, the sense of humor the place had, and especially the good burger. I've already figured out the burger I'm getting on my next visit - the Dawn of the Dead that features an egg, bacon, cheese, red onion and mayo. And yes, it will be a double.

 

 

Los Laureles - Des Moines

On a trip home one Friday a few weeks back, I found myself in Des Moines and a hankering for Mexican food. One place that I'd never been to, but had known about for over 10 years is Los Laureles on the east side of Des Moines, near the Iowa State Capitol building (see map). I popped in for a quick lunch around 1:30 that one afternoon.

Los Laureles is in the middle of a number of Mexican shops and restaurants in the East Grand and East 15th Street area of Des Moines. It is set back in a little strip mall that was built a number of years ago after the notorious 1536 adult movie theater was closed and the building razed. Los Laureles is also right across the street from what was the original location of Raul's Mexican restaurant, one of my all-time favorite places to get Mexican food in Des Moines. (Raul's has since reopened in West Des Moines. To see my entry on that, click here.)

The owner of Los Laureles, which roughly translates into "The flower wreaths", is Eufracio Mayorga. Little information is available on Mr. Mayorga other than he also owned a Los Laureles in Mason City, IA at one time. According to a number of Internet sites that list Los Laureles, the restaurant is famous for their huge portions, yet low prices, of authentic Mexican food.

I parked around the back of the little mall and went in to get a seat at Los Laureles. The girl behind the cash register told me I could sit anywhere and I took a seat in a booth near the front door. The only problem was that there was absolutely no padding on the seat and I literally sat on a board poking through the vinyl. I got up and moved to the other side of the booth and the seat on that side was unlevel and started to pop up in the back. I had to find a perfect balance so that I could sit there comfortably enough without tipping the seat over. I could have gotten up and gone to a different booth, but the rest of the ones in the place either had people sitting in them already, or weren't cleaned off from the lunch rush. There were a number of larger tables, but I would have felt funny sitting by myself at a table for six.

I had been seated - finally comfortably - for less than a minute when a waiter came and gave me a menu and asked if I wanted something to drink. Los Laureles is known for their margaritas, but I still had a little bit of a drive ahead of me. I knew I could have a couple beers and be able to navigate home OK, so I ordered up a bottle of Sol. He brought back the Sol and asked me if I was ready to order. The menu was pretty broad and had a number of truly authentic Mexican dishes to choose from. I told him I wasn't ready and he said he'd come back. That was a mistake.

Another waiter brought a basket of chips and three different types of salsa. The chips were fresh and the regular salsa had a nice little bite to it. The green tomatillo salsa was even a little more spicy and had great flavor. The third salsa had an even more spicy smoky chipotle taste to it. That one got my attention. The first Sol that I had went down pretty fast trying to stave off the burn from the hottest of the three salsas.

When I finally figured out that I wanted to get the shredded chimichanga dinner with a pork al pastor taco for a side, the eager waiter was nowhere in sight. I was really needing another beer to help wash away the spicy taste going on in my mouth. It was about another 10 minutes before another waiter finally came over and got my order.

Like most Mexican food places, the food didn't take long to get to me. They certainly weren't kidding about the size of the portions of the food at Los Laureles. There was a lot of food in front of me. The chimichanga was drizzled with white Mexican cheese. A large amount of refried beans and rice were on the plate as well as a very good guacamole salad that went well as a topping on the chimichanga.

The chimichanga was thin, but full of a very zestful tasting shredded beef. I'm guessing by the deep lines on the outer shell of the chimichanga that they put it in a holder and deep fried it that way. Overall, the chimichanga was very good.

But the highlight of the meal for me was the single pork al pastor taco that I got. Chopped onions and fresh cilantro topped the pork chunks on the small homemade taco shells. Surprisingly, and somewhat confusingly, it was also served with radish slices. I'm not big on radishes, so I didn't add those to the taco. But I did squeeze a little lime juice on the taco and added some of the green tomatillo salsa. The taco was simply outstanding. I really liked the chimichanga, but I wished afterward that I would have gotten three of the small pork tacos. Next time.

Once again, I was ready to get another beer and my waiter - the one who took my food order - was nowhere in sight. I eventually got full, leaving some food still on my plate, then decided I'd had enough and was ready to go. I waited for my bill over five minutes after I was done and I finally got up and headed to the front counter to pay. Hopefully, my waiter would show up and give me my bill. It turned out that he had been up front talking to some lady and was more interested in carrying on the conversation with her than taking care of me. He only got a $2 dollar tip on a $20 buck lunch.

The food at Los Laureles was very good, the seating was a little tired and the service was so-so. I can look past a lot of things if the food is good and since it was, it won't sour me for a return visit to Los Laureles at some point. There are a ton of Mexican restaurants in the greater Des Moines area and Los Laureles is one of the best.

Cactus Bob's BBQ Corral - Johnston, IA

A couple people had contacted me about a place called Cactus Bob's BBQ Corral in the Des Moines suburb of Johnston. It's located just a mile north of Interstate 80 on Merle Hay Road (see map) in a strip mall on the east side of the street. When I was in Des Moines recently, I met one of my dealers for lunch there.

There actually is a "Cactus Bob" - Robert Prince is a former sheet metal worker and a self-trained gourmet cook. Over 15 years ago he became friends with Craig DeDecker, a certified chef with over 20 years of experience in food service. The two had a love for homemade foods and especially barbecue. They began to make their own homemade beef jerky and hot pickles, and for a time they sold them at the Des Moines Farmers Market.

In 2002, Prince and DeDecker entered - and won - their very first barbecue championship. Entering more barbecue contests over the next couple of years, the two worked on different rub concoctions, fine tuned their barbecue sauces and came up with a variety of sides to go along with their meats. After winning first place for smoked pork butt and brisket, and a second place in ribs in a barbecue cook-off in 2004, Prince and DeDecker decided to open their own barbecue place the next year. I had heard about Cactus Bob's, but had never really taken them seriously until I began to look for barbecue places in the very underrated barbecue community in greater Des Moines.

Now, allow me to digress to tell you a story to set up my next story about Cactus Bob's...

Years ago, there used to be a barbecue place in Des Moines called Big Daddy's Barbecue. Located on the east side near East High School, Big Daddy's became notorious for the different levels of hot barbecue sauces they had to offer. When I first had Big Daddy's, they had a mild, a mild/hot and a hot. Then they started to name them. This was back in the late 80's and they named them after movies or movie quotes. They had a sauce called "Make My Day" after the Clint Eastwood "Dirty Harry" movies, they also had "Death Wish I" and "Death Wish II" after the old Charles Bronson movies. The hottest of what I believe were six levels was simply named, "Oh My God!" The names of the sauces changed over the years, but these were the ones I remember as they were named.

Big Daddy's had a challenge where a person had to finish a sandwich of either pulled pork or brisket with the hottest level of sauce on the sandwich in either 10 or 15 minutes, I can't remember. It's not an urban legend to say that more than one person went to the Emergency Room after trying to down one of Big Daddy's hot sandwiches. One guy reportedly threw up in the parking lot after taking - and winning - the challenge. Unfortunately, it was right in front of a lady picking up ribs to go at the drive thru window. She quickly canceled her order.

Big Daddy's went out of business a couple three years ago for good after going through some tough times over the previous few years. I had their mild/hot sauce one time and it was pretty zippy. I had a friend who is a longtime rep in the audio business who had the hot sauce on a sandwich one time and he said he regretted it later that evening as he was sitting on the toilet. He said, "I can handle hot food, but that was almost too much for me. I can't even imagine how hot some of those named sauces could be!"

It turns out that Cactus Bob's has similar levels of hot sauce to choose from, if you want. They feature seven different sauces with the hottest - Black Bart's Desert Death - made from an Asian pepper that is said to be 400 times more hot than a habanero pepper and a 1000 times hotter than a jalapeno. In fact, Cactus Bob's also has a similar challenge to those who think they can handle the hot sauce - the Cactus Bob's Showdown Challenge. For a six dollar entry fee and a signed waiver clearing Cactus Bob's from any legal ramifications or medical bills that may result in the person taking the challenge, a person has 10 minutes to down either a pork or brisket sandwich while not taking a drink of any liquid. I like to eat, but I don't like to hurt myself either during or after I eat, though.

There appears to be many winners of the challenge in the past. The picture above right shows a wall covered with former winners of what was called the "Old Rule" challenge. I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing Cactus Bob's "Showdown" sauce is probably hotter than the former sauce they used for the challenge.

It was a hot summer afternoon just after one when I met up with my dealer at Cactus Bob's. I had just driven in from Minneapolis and was hungry and could use a beer. The menu at Cactus Bob's is up on the wall above the counter in the very well lit main dining area. Not knowing what to get on my first visit, I was thinking of getting a sampler platter of brisket and pork. But they don't offer that at Cactus Bob's. The closest thing they have on the menu is a pork rib tips and your choice of smoked pork butt or brisket with two sides.

They feature two different styles of pork ribs at Cactus Bob's - baby backs and St. Louis-style (which, I've been told, are basically baby back ribs with less of the fat cut off the rack). They also have smoked chicken, turkey and link sausage. In fact, Cactus Bob's will smoke whole turkeys, prime ribs and whole bone-in hams for you for a fee. That's done through their Smokehouse menu. Cactus Bob's also features a full catering menu for parties, corporate events and other gatherings.

I finally decided to try one of Cactus Bob's sandwiches - the Chuckwagon - as it had the smoked pork, brisket and turkey on it. It was served on a toasted bun and I had a choice of two sides. I took the baked beans and a small bowl of Cactus Bob's Texas chili, complete with large chunks of beef brisket chunks. My dealer got a sandwich of well, I believe it was the Longhorn, which was the beef brisket sandwich. Cactus Bob's also threw in a couple of their hot "prickly pickle" spears to go along with the meal.

Cactus Bob's dry smokes their meat with their own rub spice recipe. They've adopted the "cook earlier, refrigerate, reheat upon ordering" technique that is becoming the norm for many barbecue places. This is common practice for a number of barbecue joints who can smoke the meat in advance and then reheat it after a few hours in the fridge. A few barbecue snobs think this is cheating (sort of like how I think parboiling ribs to make them "fall off the bone" tender robs the taste of the meat and you have to rely upon the sauce), but I'm of the school of thought that it actually helps enhance the taste of the smoke and rub spices with the meat when they're put in a cold environment for a few hours.

We got our sandwiches and sides and found a place to sit in the long narrow dining area just off the main dining room. Before I bit into the sandwich took little bites of both the brisket and the sliced pork on their own. The brisket was a tad overcooked, but still flavorful. The pork was juicy and flavorful and had a great taste to it. And even though I'm not big on turkey, it tasted very well with the pork and brisket.

In addition to the seven hot barbecue sauces that Cactus Bob's has, they feature three on the table - their original "sweet and spicy" sauce that I have to say is very, very good; the "sweet and smoky" sauce that is similar to the original Cactus Bob's sauce, only with a little more smoke flavoring to it; and their "Revenge" sauce that kicks the original up a bit with some hot peppers added to the mix. I tried the "Revenge" sauce and it was hot, but not anything that I couldn't handle. Actually, I liked to mix a little of the "Revenge" sauce the original Cactus Bob's sauce to give it even more of a zippy taste on the sandwich.

The two sides were just outstanding. The chili was top-notch with a great seasoned blend of spices, beans and large chunks of brisket. And the beans weren't too far behind. I probably didn't have to add any of the Cactus Bob's original and "Revenge" sauce to the beans as they were excellent on their own, but I did anyhow and they were even better.

I was very impressed with the barbecue at Cactus Bob's, so much so that I really need to come back and try a half rack of baby back ribs at some point. The meats were good (although the pork seemed to be better than the brisket), I really liked the table sauces and was too much of a wimp to even try the first level of hot sauce, and the beans and chili were some of the best I've ever had at a barbecue joint. Des Moines has a number of very good barbecue joints and Cactus Bob's has to be near or at the top. I can't wait to get back for some ribs at some point.

Fried Butter on a Stick at the Iowa State Fair - Des Moines

At the recently completed 158th annual Iowa State Fair, a new food had fair-goers buzzing during the 11 day run of the fair - fried butter on a stick. Actually, fried butter is not anything new, it's sort of a Southern delicacy and Paula Deen has featured a recipe for fried butter balls on her cooking show. But the fried butter on a stick at the Iowa State Fair was different - they basically took about a half stick of butter, put it on a stick, then covered it with a batter, then deep fried it for 3 minutes. Cindy and I went to the State Fair this year and we had to stop and get the fried butter on a stick just to give it a try.

But before we went to get the fried butter, we had to stop for the Holy Grail of all foods at the Iowa State Fair - a gizmo from Carl's Gizmo right behind the Administration Building on the fairgrounds. We had been talking to some friends of ours the night before about Carl's Gizmo and they know Carl's daughter, Carla Wood, and her husband, Kirby, who now run the booth. They were telling us that for less than one month a year - 11 days at the Iowa State Fair and another 12 days at the Minnesota State Fair (which always occurs directly after the fair in Des Moines) the Wood family makes enough money to live on for a year. The Gizmo's are a combination of Italian sausage and beef, topped with seasoned marinara sauce and cheese. (To see an approximate recipe on the Gizmo, click here.) Jalapenos, such as on the one pictured at left, are optional. I have to get one each time I go to the fair. They are outstanding.

We went to the information booth at the Administration Building trying to find out where the place that sold the deep fried butter was. The lady told us that it was just east of there in the triangle at the corners of Grand, Rock Island and E. 33rd in the fairgrounds. After a little searching among the numerous food vendors set up there, we found the little trailer.

The line was already long when we got there around 11:45 a.m. We were in the short line of about a dozen or so people, while the other line had far more people. I don't know if some of the people on the other side knew there were two sides for the line to get deep fried butter on a stick.

Larry Fyfe is the man who came up with the deep fried butter on a stick for this year's fair. Actually, fried butter was first introduced at the Texas State Fair two years ago, but to Fyfe's knowledge, this is this first time fried butter has been made available on a stick. To make deep fried butter on a stick, they take an eighth of an ounce of stick butter and put it on a wooden stick. They roll the butter stick in a batter that has a lot of cinnamon and honey in it, swirl it around until it gets fully coated (above right), then they dip it in a deep fryer for about 3 minutes.

Fyfe, who is from Des Moines, is no stranger to trying out interesting things to put on a stick and then deep fry. He also has deep fried Milky Way or Snickers candy bars on a stick. They, too, are coated in a batter and placed in hot oil for 3 minutes. I'm not a big fan of either of the candy bars, but those who have tried it says they're pretty good.

After about a 10 minute wait in line, we got up to the window and Cindy ordered a fried butter on the stick. This is what it looks like when it comes out and after they drizzle some frosting over the top to give it a little bit of a sugar punch.

And above right is Cindy taking her first bite into the fried butter on a stick. Before she got the fried butter on the stick, a lady who just got one came back to grab more napkins. "More napkins," she said. "You'll definitely need a lot of napkins." On the first bite, the butter literally shot out of the battered encasement. Cindy said, "Oh, my God!"

I said, "Oh, my God, good; or oh my God, bad."

She said it was more "Oh, my God, how messy!"

When I asked if it was good, she said, "Here! Try it!" She offered me a bite and the first thing that struck me was that it tasted like a deep fried cinnamon roll with a shit load of butter on top. And, oh man, was it rich. And messy! A lot of the butter had been soaked up inside the batter, but there was enough of it oozing around in the little carrier it was served in.

Cindy had two more bites and then said, "You can have it." There were only a couple of bites left and by this time the thing had fully come off the stick. I used my fingers to sop up what was left of the butter and drizzled frosting with the cooked batter. Afterward, I had to go to the restroom to wash my hands. It was a combination of stickiness and greasiness. And about 15 minutes later, I needed a antacid. And I don't think it was from the Gizmo. Well, it could have very well been a combination of both.

OK, so we tried the fried butter on a stick. We know it was an outrageous hit at the Iowa State Fair, based upon the long lines we saw even after we tried one and from reports from all over the U.S. and around the world that featured the fried butter on a stick. Will we try one again if we go back to the state fair next year? Doubtful. But like anything in life, you've got to try it at least once - no matter how bad it is for you. (Picture at right courtesy KCCI.com)

Jethro's Barbecue - Des Moines, IA

As I noted in my earlier post on Smokey D's in Des Moines, the capital city of Iowa is quickly garnering a lot of attention from barbecue enthusiasts for the quality of barbecue places that have sprung up in the area over the past few years.  While I can't quite put Des Moines in the same category as Kansas City, St. Louis or Memphis in regard to renown barbecue joints, my quest to find good barbecue places the city continued with a visit to Jethro's Barbecue, just west of Drake University on Forest Ave. (see map).

Jethro's is the brain child of Des Moines real estate developer Bruce Gerleman.  Gerleman bought the old Pizza Hut building along Forest Ave. in 2007, and in the Spring of 2008 he opened the doors to Jethro's, named after the dim-bulb character, Jethro Bodine, in Gerleman's favorite television show, The Beverly Hillbillies.  On Jethro's web site, Gerleman even came up with a story that took up after the Beverly Hillbillies were canceled in the early 70's.  In that story, Jethro had grown tired of Beverly Hills and moved back east.  He ended up in Des Moines, bought a 750 lb. smoker and opened his little barbecue place near Drake.  Some of the original sandwiches he had to offer on the menu were named after other characters of the television program such as the Elly May, the Jed and the Mr. Drysdale.   

Of course, it wasn't much more than six months after Gerleman opened Jethro's that he got a "cease and desist" letter from CBS Television, who still owned rights to the Beverly Hillbillies shows.  To appease the CBS lawyers, he dropped the character names from the sandwiches, but kept the Jethro's name, complete with the strapping character in a plaid shirt, jeans with a rope belt, suspenders and boots.  That didn't satisfy CBS enough, who continued to go after Gerleman by saying that using the hillbilly character in his logo was still infringing on their intellectual property.  

Gerleman maintained that hillbilly character in the logo was a composite of 20 different characters conjured up by an artist he hired.  While I couldn't find anywhere that the conflict had been resolved, the character in the logo now has a solid red shirt, but sans the rope belt that helped hold up the tattered jeans along with a pair of suspenders.  Jethro's is still going strong, so I'm guessing CBS thought they were wasting a lot of time and money chasing after a restaurant that was somehow ripping off the Beverly Hillbillies nearly 40 years after the last show was aired on CBS - and before it went into perpetual reruns around the world, garnering CBS untold riches from a cheap form of entertainment.  

Last fall, Gerleman, who also owns Splash Seafood restaurant in downtown Des Moines, opened a second Jethro's location - this one called Jethro 'n Jake's Smokehouse Steaks - in suburban Altoona near Prairie Meadows and Adventureland.  According the "back story" on Jethro's web site, the Jake in the name is Jethro's bulldog (the mascot for Drake University is a bulldog).  While Jethro 'n Jake's has the same barbecue menu as Jethro's original location, they also feature steaks and prime rib.  

 The Des Moines location for Jethro's is a laid back, quasi-sports bar that features a number of flat screen televisions throughout the restaurant. Lighted signs and memorabilia hang above the exposed wooden rafters, while many of the walls are adorned with Drake athletic pictures and posters paying homage to former stand out athletes and teams over the years.

Jethro's features a nice little outside patio eating area out behind the place which also had a couple flat screens to allow patrons to watch television while they eat or enjoy a cold drink.  Both Jethro's locations feature 12 DirecTV satellite receivers so if there's a sporting event on, at least one television will be turned to it.  Jethro's is a destination for fans who want to catch their favorite National Football League team.  

It was mid-afternoon when I made it into Jethro's on my way to Omaha.  I took a seat at the bar and looked over a menu.  A television crew was just packing up when I was there and it turned out they were interviewing the manager about an ESPN contest Jethro's was participating in regarding their signature sandwich, the Adam Emmenecker.  They throw a little bit of everything on the Adam Emmenecker, named after the former Drake basketball player who led the Bulldogs to the Missouri Valley championship three years ago.  The sandwich, which weighs 5 pounds, features an Angus steak burger, a giant pork tenderloin, and Jethro's Texas-style brisket.  And that's just the start.  They then add spicy chicken tenders, fried cheese, bacon, MORE cheese and top it off with a toasted bun and a pickle spear.  People voted on ESPN's web site for the best "Fanwich", a sandwich named after an athlete.  (The Emmenecker got second, beaten out by a sandwich that was named after San Francisco Giants pitcher Matt Cain at Ike's Place in San Francisco.)     

Jethro's has a challenge for those who can eat a whole Adam Emmenecker sandwich in an allotted time.  For a $25 dollar price, a number of people have tried to finish the Adam Emmenecker in less than 15 minutes, including The Travel Channel's "Man Vs. Food's" Adam Richman who visited Jethro's last year for the challenge.  Here's a You Tube video of Richman trying to tackle the Adam Emmenecker -    

  

   Quite honestly, I didn't even know there was a "Man Vs. Food" episode on Jethro's, let alone one that featured the greater Des Moines area, until I visited Jethro's that particular day.  While Richman wasn't able to finish the behemoth sandwich in under 15 minutes, a handful of people have.  Just inside the front door of Jethro's is the "Hall of Fame" - pictures of the seven people (that was the total up to my visit) who have finished the Adam Emmenecker sandwich during the 15 minute time limit.  (At the time of the taping of Richman's segment at Jethro's, only two people had been able to finish the sandwich.  Nearly a year later, five more people had triumphed.)

Not to take anything away from those who failed to finish the Adam Emmenecker, Jethro's pays homage to those who tried with a "Hall of Shame" featuring hundreds of pictures of those who weren't up for the challenge.  

Me? I wouldn't even begin to try it.  Oh, maybe 30 years ago when I was younger and more stupid than I am today.  It just doesn't sound appealing to me to eat a burger, some brisket, a 10 oz. deep-fried pork tenderloin,  chicken tenders and all that cheese on a sandwich.   

 The bar at Jethro's continues the "shack" theme with what appears go be a tin culvert drainage tile that goes from floor to ceiling which also serves as the spigot holder for a number of Jethro's fine selection of draft beers.  Flat screen televisions covered three sides of the culvert tile fixture.  

It wasn't busy in the least when I was in Jethro's that afternoon.  Knowing that this would probably be lunch and dinner for me, I decided to get a two meat combination dinner that came with two sides of my choosing.  I had my choice between brisket, sliced smoked turkey, pulled chicken, smoked ham, pulled pork and smoked sausage.  Brisket and pulled pork are my favorites, so I went with that combination.

For my sides, I had to get baked beans, but I was sort of torn between Jethro's hot coleslaw (I really wanted to try that, but chickened out), jalapeno creamed corn (also was going to pull the trigger on that, but didn't at the last minute), and the mac and cheese.  I wussed out and got the mac and cheese.

 Not long after I ordered and just in time for me to order a second beer, my barbecue platter showed up in front of me.  The pulled pork was moist and had a nice smokey flavor on its own.  The brisket was cut thick and was also very juicy and favorable.  The baked beans - it looked like they used three or four different types of beans in the concoction - was pedestrian at best, even when I tried to kick it up a notch with one Jethro's barbecue sauces.  And the mac and cheese was overly disappointing.  One bite told me that it was bland and boring.  In hindsight, I really wish I would have gotten the hot coleslaw.

Jethro's features five different types of barbecue sauces - their "secret" sauce that is thick and sweet, a Carolina sauce that is thin and vinegary, a Georgia mustard-based sauce that I didn't care for,  and a hot barbecue sauce that featured seven different types of peppers in the mix.  It was zippy, but not overpowering.  (The fifth sauce - an Alabama white cream sauce - didn't look appealing to me.)  Mixing some of the Jethro's Secret sauce with the hot sauce made for a nice combination to go along with the meat and the beans.  

 Overall, the barbecue at Jethro's was good, above average good.  The meats were tasty and moist, but the sides were a little less than desirable.   The combination of the two sweet and hot sauces was a great compliment to the meat giving it a nice "zippy" taste quality.  Jethro's has become a favorite of many people around Des Moines and in their first year of business they garnered the "Best Barbecue in Des Moines" by the Cityview, the local free weekly newspaper.  I can see why.  It's a pretty cool place, even if you weren't there for the barbecue. While I wouldn't put it on par with some great barbecue joints I've eaten at in St. Louis or Kansas City, it's still very good.  

My quest continues for good barbecue in Des Moines.  If you have any ideas, send 'em my way!

 

 

Smokey D's - Des Moines

Barbecue has gained a strong presence in the Des Moines area.  It's not a place that you'd first think "barbecue" when describing the city, like you would Memphis or Kansas City.  But over the years, there have been many good barbecue places in and around the area.  There seems to be a number of them popping up over the past 3 to 5 years.  I've been told that I have to go to Jethro's BBQ, Flying Mango, and Woody's Smoke Shack to try the barbecue at those places.  But, once again, my good friend Jeff "Burph" Versteegh suggested I try a place that he's all too familiar with, Smokey D's with three locations in Des Moines.

Smokey D's is named after Darren Warth who had headed his own competitive barbecue team for a number of years.  Warth has won a number of awards for barbecue at prestigious competitions such as the American Royal in Kansas City and the Jack Daniels World Barbecue Invitational in Tennessee.  Like many of these competitors who have won loads of awards working the competitive barbecue circuit, they eventually open their own place to let the public try some of their winning barbecue recipes.  In 2007, Warth - along with partner and pit boss Shad Kirton - opened their first barbecue joint on NW 54th St.  They soon opened up two other downtown locations - one in the skywalk near the Ruan Center, and the other at 12th and Locust in the Allied/Nationwide building.  My buddy works at Nationwide, so he eats at the Smokey D's at least once a week. 

Business boomed at the smallish Smokey D's on NW 54th St. and it became apparent they needed more room.  Last September, Warth and Kirton took over a building just north of Interstate 80/35 on 2nd Ave. in what was, I believe, an old Western wear and tack store next to the Big Barn Harley Davidson, a Des Moines landmark for travelers rolling along the interstate.  They gutted the place and turned it into a restaurant, complete with a main dining room and a bar area that also serves as a dining area.  It was at the 2nd Ave. location that I had my first encounter with Smokey D's (see map). 

I got to Smokey D's at a time that I thought would be advantageous to get in before the noon rush - right at about 11:30 a.m..  However, a long line had already formed snaking around the main dining room and back into the bar area.  It looked to be a 15 to 20 minute wait to get up to the counter to place my order.  If there were this many people in line by 11:30, I figured this must be some pretty good barbecue.  And it seemed like they were really moving the line and people were already done and leaving tables open.  I always figured that I could just eat at the bar if it was too packed by the time I was looking for a seat. 

As the line moved along and came around the corner into the home stretch for ordering at the counter, this is where I got a close up look at many of the trophies and plaques that Smokey D's had won over the years at various barbecue competitions.   Kirton won a big award last year being named the winning Pitmaster on the BBQ Pitmasters program on The Learning Channel.   He won $100,000 and the Kingsford Cup.  Not to be outdone, Warth won the Best Pork invitational category at the American Royal this past year.  Smokey D's tomato-based mild barbecue sauce was also judged to be the 6th best at the American Royal and their hotter barbecue sauce got 13th place.   Between the two, Kirton and Warth have combined to win about 30 Grand Championship awards on the competitive barbecue circuit. 

 
The menu at Smokey D's is on a sign board directly above the counter where you place your orders.  Now, be forewarned - you can't order beer at this counter, you have to go into the bar and order directly from the bartender.  That was a little confusing to me at first, but it was actually pretty painless to do it that way.  This allowed the people at the front counter to deal with food orders. 

Smokey D's had the regular things you'd find at most barbecue places - beef brisket, chopped pork, pulled chicken and burnt ends.  They also had sliced smoked turkey, something I don't run into all that often at other barbecue places.  Of course, there were the normal sandwiches featuring the meat they make, as well as a number of mouthwater side dishes that you could order to go along with your meal.

As I like to do at most barbecue places that I'm visiting for the first time, I wanted to try the brisket and the chopped pork.  The dinner platter allows you to choose two different meats (the lunch platter is one meat only) as well as your choice of two sides.  I always have to get baked beans for one of my sides and Burph told me that Smokey D's mac and cheese was "pretty good."  So that's what I ordered - brisket and chopped pork, baked beans and mac and cheese.  A piece of garlic bread comes with the platter.  The lady at the cash register gave me a little table card with a number on it to place near me so they'll know where I'm at when they bring my order out.

I made my way to the bar to get a beer and decided to just sit there.  I got a Bud Light from the bartender and waited for my meal.  When it came out I was surprised at how much food $9.95 got you.   The baked beans and mac & cheese were served in little styrofoam cups with the chopped pork and brisket off to the sides.  I tried both a piece of the pork and the brisket without putting any barbecue sauce on them and they were both very, very good.  The pork was tender with a little smokey taste to it, the brisket was also flavorful, but not quite as tender as the pork. 

I tried a little bit of the Smokey D's mild sauce and I have to say it was, "Eh!"  It definitely didn't trip my trigger at all.  The spicy barbecue sauce had a little bit more zip to the taste, but it still wasn't what I would call a world class barbecue sauce. 

I added some of the spicy sauce to the beans to help zip them up a bit, but I've had baked beans that were much better at other barbecue places.  However, my friend undersold the mac & cheese - it was outstanding.  It was creamy with chunks of ham and some jalapeno peppers in it.  I was sitting there eating it and thinking, "Geez, there are so many ways to do mac and cheese."  Smokey D's mac and cheese was a hit.

 Now, I don't know if it was because I had an early morning breakfast meeting or what, but my taste buds just weren't dazzled with my overall meal.   I got full quickly and had trouble putting more than a dent in my food.  I'm sorry to say that I think Smokey D's sauce was pedestrian, at best.  I've got a fridge full of barbecue sauces that I've picked up around the Midwest that blow Smokey D's sauces out of the water.   The beans were also average, but I will say the brisket and the chopped pork on their own were outstanding.  Tasty, succulent, nice flavor without too much smoke in the meat.  Maybe it was best to enjoy the meat without the sauce.

This is not to say that Smokey D's is not a good place to eat.   Other than the sauce and the baked beans, their brisket and especially their pork was very, very good.  And the mac & cheese was some of the best I've ever had and that includes mac & cheese made with gourmet cheeses and added with lobster meat at some fine restaurants I've eaten at over the years.  The awards Darren Warth and Shad Kirton have garnered over the years are very deserving.  It's no wonder it was a 20 minute wait before noon to get food at Smokey D's. 

Gusto Pizza Company - Des Moines

Once again, a shout out to my friend Jeff "Burph" Versteegh for turning me onto a new pizza restaurant in Des Moines - Gusto Pizza Company. Located on Ingersoll Ave. just west of the downtown area (see map), Gusto Pizza opened earlier this year and offers a number of signature pizzas, eclectic beers, and other offerings in a modern urban industrial setting. I stopped in one cool early spring evening to have a pizza at Gusto Pizza Company, hoping that Burph didn't steer me wrong.

The history of Gusto Pizza dates further back a couple three years with a popular pizza place over by Drake University by the name of Frank's Pizza. In a little over two years of business, owner Tony Lemmo (who also owns the upscale gourmet Cafe di Scala in Des Moines) had a good following of people for his gourmet style of pizzas. But many people complained that parking around the University Ave. pizza joint was a pain in the butt. Lemmo and co-owner Justin Gross announced that Frank's would shut down while they looked for a new building.

Gross was an attorney by trade and after Frank's closed he went back to practice law full-time. Lemmo, in the meantime, hooked up with two friends - Joe McConville and Josh Holderness - who had extensive experience in the restaurant business. In 2010, they formed the partnership that would open Gusto Pizza Company in early 2011.

Armed with the old oven - as well as the same sauce and dough recipe - from Frank's Pizza, Lemmo, McConville and Holderness came up with a number of diverse and interesting pizzas to put on their menu. Their signature pizzas include such interesting toppings as pears, dried figs, goat cheese, skirt steak, bean sprouts, spicy Thai peanut sauce, and beef brisket.

Open until 10 p.m. through the week (11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday; 9 p.m. on Sunday), I pulled into the parking lot along side Gusto Pizza Company a little after arriving in Des Moines around 9 p.m. that evening. I went into the restaurant and there were, maybe, four or five other people that were in the place. A number of flat screen televisions were on the walls - some of them were tuned to sports, but one of them above the bar area had a classic black and white movie playing from the Turner Classic Movies network.

The main menu for Gusto Pizza Company is located above the beer cooler full of interesting beers, some from obscure microbreweries around the Midwest. In addition to pizzas, Gusto Pizza Company also offers a menu for sandwiches, a couple pasta entrees, salads and appetizers. Like Gusto's pizza, most of the items on their food menu is made from scratch.

If you're a regular reader of Road Tips, I'm not a very adventurous person when it comes to ordering pizza. The idea of dried figs, spicy Thai peanut sauce and bean sprouts doesn't sound all that appealing to me. So for guys like me who aren't willing to try one of their signature pizzas, they have a "make-your-own" menu of toppings to put on either a 10" or 14" pizza (7" personal pizzas are also available that are served with a side salad for $7). And like many good pizza restaurants around the Des Moines area, Gusto Pizza Company uses Italian sausage from Graziano Brothers meat market. It's some of the best Italian sausage I've ever had. I ordered a 10" pizza with Italian Sausage, Pepperoni and mushrooms.

However, when it came to what kind of beer to order, I was a little confused and undecided what to get. Even though they show that they have Budweiser products on their beer menu, they didn't have any that night. The only beer they had that I recognized as a main stream American beer was Schlitz. And I'm not too certain as how main stream Schlitz really is. The guy who took my order at the counter asked what kind of beer I liked and I told him that I was more of a pale ale kind of guy.

He pulled out a bottle from a brewery in Knoxville, IA - Peace Tree Brewing Company's Hop Wrangler India Pale Ale. When he was telling me about it - very hoppy and had a good forward taste - I remembered a friend of mine telling me last year about a new brewery in Knoxville. I immediately wanted to try it. Actually, it was very good.

While there were numerous seats and tables open, I decided to sit at the bar to be able to watch a little television and to have a good look into the still busy kitchen area. Gusto Pizza Company does a brisk carry-out business, similar to the type of business Frank's Pizza used to do when it was in business.

When the pizza came out, I was ready for another Hop Wrangler IPA. The guy who brought the pizza out asked me if I liked the beer. "Yeah, I do," I said. "I heard this brewery down in Knoxville was pretty good."

The pizza, itself, was a hand-tossed crust with a liberal amount of toppings. The mushrooms were absolutely fresh and had a great taste to them. The pepperoni was salty and went great with the beer. And even though I do like Graziano Brothers Italian sausage, Gusto Pizza Company uses the ground up style Italian sausage. Although it wasn't a deal breaker, it was still somewhat disappointing to have a pizza with ground sausage.

But the crust was chewy and held up very well with all the toppings, sauce and fresh mozzarella on top. The tomato sauce had a good sweet and tangy taste to it. While I can't quite call it a great pizza, I thought the pizza at Gusto was very good.

One of the guys working behind the counter came over and was asking me how the pizza was. I told him that it was very good - it was, other than the ground sausage. But that's just my tastes and expectations. We got to talking about the interesting beers they offered at Gusto Pizza and it turned out the guy I was talking to was Josh Holderness, one of the partners. He told me that his goal was to eventually have over 60 percent of their beers they offer come from Iowa breweries. "We try to support a lot of the local businesses as our food and drink sources. There are some good beers being made around Iowa. We'd like to include many of them as we can."

I asked him if he was familiar with the brewery in Newton - Madhouse Brewing Company - and the one in Davenport - Great River Brewery. He said that he was familiar with the one in Newton, but not the one in Davenport. He said, "Like you, I like a good forward and hoppy beer. The one from Newton (Past Time Pale Ale) is a little too sweet for me. I mean, it's good. But I don't like beers where you can taste some sweetness along with the hops."

I told him to see if he could find some of the Great River Brewery's 483 Pale Ale. It's a very forward tasting American pale ale - more hoppy than you'd find with most American pale ale's. He said he try to get over to Eastern Iowa at some point to try some. I may just have to bring him in a six pack on my next visit.

I asked Josh when they had opened for business and he said it was late January. I do have a rule that I don't go into restaurants for the first three months they're opened, but I wasn't disappointed in the pizza in the least. Well, maybe save for the ground sausage which reminds me of Quad City-style pizza, which is not very good. But Graziano Brothers Italian sausage is so fresh and flavorful that I can look past that. Josh was telling me that as soon as the weather got better, they had a number of outdoor tables and chairs coming and would open up the patio area for dining. That would be a nice touch.

While I'm a little more partial to the pizzas at traditional Des Moines pizza places like Chuck's, The Tavern, and Noah's Ark, there's no doubt that the freshness of the toppings on the Gusto Pizza are top notch. The sauce and crust were very good. Burph hardly ever steers me wrong and Gusto Pizza Company was no exception.

Raul's - West Des Moines

The "Rest in Peace" category of Road Tips is one of the more popular links that I have within this blog.  One of the earliest entries had to do with the closing of one of my all-time favorite Mexican restaurants, Raul's in Des Moines.  Raul Hernandez was in his late 70's and found that his health couldn't allow him to keep up with and compete against many of the small taquerias that had sprung up around the Des Moines area.  The Hernandez family shut the doors of his original restaurant on East Grand and the one out in the suburb of Urbandale.  I was really bummed because Raul's was the place where I was introduced to real authentic Mexican food, not the American-ized version of such that you find at most Mexican food chains.  And I am proud to say that I turned Raul's on to a lot of friends during their existence. 

So, it was to my delight to hear that Raul's daughter, Connie Hernandez-Limke and her husband, David, re-opened Raul's in a new location in West Des Moines (see map) last May using many of the same recipes that Raul and Josephine Hernandez used at their original East Grand location since 1962.  Since Raul's had closed in 2005, Connie Hernandez-Limke was selling Raul's enchiladas, salsa and other items at area farmers markets.  She was convinced by many who continually bought her goods to open a new restaurant.  Luckily for many of the fans of the original Raul's and those who were buying her food at the farmers market, she and her husband decided to re-open Raul's.  I was in Des Moines recently on my way to Kansas City early one evening and decided to stop into the new Raul's for a bite to eat to check it out. 

Along with the help from Jackie Hernandez-Wells, the Limke's opened the new Raul's in a building that used to house a number of restaurants along 8th Street in West Des Moines, including Fratellos, which became the Coaches Lounge, then was sold and turned into the Skybox Lounge.  They had a soft opening in May last year, but had a grand re-opening on June 12 - Raul Hernandez's 82nd birthday.  And the Hernandez sisters brought back one of the most popular aspects about Raul's - the lunch buffet served between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Tuesday's through Friday.  (Raul's is closed Sunday and Monday.)

I pulled into Raul's about 6:30 that evening and went inside the front door.  A long bar is situated on one wall of the building and on your right as you walk in there's a little "den area" that has a fire place and a few tables to eat or to just relax over a margarita and some chips and salsa.  There's a main dining area with an open kitchen (the kitchen at the original Raul's allowed you to look inside to see the food being prepped, as well).   A hostess came up to greet me and asked if I wanted to sit at the bar.  I decided that I would rather sit in one of the booths toward the back of the restaurant.  She dropped off a menu for me and a bus boy came over with a basket of chips and a bowl each of Raul's homemade mild salsa and somewhat more spicy salsa.  I like to add both of them together for an added taste sensation to the mild salsa.

My waitress soon came over to get my drink order. It turns out they were having a margarita special that evening - a 16 oz. "Grandpa Margarita" that Raul's was/is so famous for $5.00. Their Grandpa Margarita consists of Cuervo Gold tequila, triple sec and Raul's homemade lime juice, shaken together and served over ice. (They also have a version of the Grandpa Margarita where they add Grand Marnier on top. Cindy really likes that one.)

 

 

The waitress came out with my margarita and told me that she'd give me a little more time to look at the menu. Des Moines is famous for their deep fried flour tacos and Raul's had some of the best around. And they also had what I deem are the best chile rellenos I've ever had. They take an poblano pepper, stuff it with cheese and seasoned ground beef, dip it in a batter and deep fry the chile relleno for a few moments. Then they top it with Raul's homemade relleno sauce. I ordered a couple of the beef flour tacos and a chile relleno - ala carte. By that time, I had made short work of my margarita and ordered up a Sol.

When the waitress came out with my food and my first impression was, "Oh, my GOD! That's a lot of food!" My second reaction was that the fried flour tacos weren't exactly as I remember at the original Raul's. The ones I remember were sort of more enclosed than opened as the ones that are pictured below left. And they were smaller than these. And from my first bite, I knew something else was different. The meat was different. I couldn't quite place the taste, but it was sort of spicy and wasn't what I remembered from the original Raul's beef taco. It wasn't that it was unpleasant, but it sort of jarred me a bit because I didn't think it was the same.

 

 

 

But the chile relleno was exactly as I remembered. A big poblano pepper stuffed with Mexican cheese and beef, dipped in an egg batter and deep fried for a moment. The chile relleno came with three soft flour taco shells to dip into the tasty relleno sauce. The chile relleno, on its own, is a meal and a half. I was able to put a significant dent into the chile relleno, finish one of the tacos and a portion of the second one. Note to self - next time, get just ONE taco with the chile relleno.

The waitress came over and asked me how my dinner was.  I told her that I thought there was something different about the taco meat - I didn't remember the beef tasting that way.  She seemed sort of perplexed and said, "Well, it's the same recipe that we've had for years.  I don't think they've changed it." 

 

I sort of shrugged my shoulders and said, "Well, it's not exactly as I remember.  But, then again, it's been six years since I've had a Raul's taco.  But, I'll tell you.  The chile relleno was exactly as I remember as just as good as I remember."

It's not that the tacos were bad.  I was just expecting something else as far as the taste of the beef was concerned.  But the trip to Raul's for the chile relleno was worth every cent and more.  I've eaten in a number of Mexican restaurants over the years and have tried a number of chile rellenos and I have yet to find one that is as good as the one at Raul's.  I'm overly happy that Raul's has re-opened.  It gives me another place to eat when I get to Des Moines. 

 

Buck's Bar - Mitchellville, IA

For the last eight years, the Iowa Pork Producers have been handing out the award for the Best Pork Tenderloin in Iowa to restaurants and bars around the state.  So far, I've written about visiting Augusta in Oxford, IA and trying their 2008 award winning pork tenderloin (click here to see that entry); and recently I posted an entry on Goldie's Ice Cream Shoppe in Prairie City, IA (click here to see that entry) and trying the 2009 winning tenderloin.  The 2010 winner was recently announced and the Iowa Pork Producers awarded the best tenderloin of this year to Buck's Bar in Mitchellville, IA - about 20 miles east of Des Moines (see map).  I was coming back from a couple three days up in Minneapolis with a side trip to Ames for a meeting when I decided to stop into Buck's Bar for a tenderloin on my way home.

It just so happens that one of my sisters lives in Mitchellville, about three blocks from Buck's Bar.  I called her up before I left Ames and asked her if she was home.  She said she was and wondered why I asked.  I said, "Well, I want to try a tenderloin from Buck's Bar and I wondered if you wanted to join me for a beer."

She said, "Oh!  I just had a leftover tenderloin from Buck's for lunch!  Sure, I'll meet you there."

It was about 45 minutes later when I pulled up in front of Buck's Bar in Mitchellville (see map).  My sister was sitting on a bench in front of the place waiting for me to show up.  It was about 3:30 p.m. when I got there, saving up my appetite for a Buck's tenderloin through the course of the day.

 

Buck's Bar is a relatively new place.  My sister explained that the original owner had built the place about three years ago, but went through a nasty divorce from his wife at the time.  The bar had opened, closed, then reopened about nine months ago under the ownership of Buck Bos.  It was sort of nice on the inside - open and well-lit with some tables and booths interspersed throughout the place.  There was a pool table and some other games that you'd find in any small town bar.  The bar area featured a three-sided bar with comfortable high-back seats. 

My sister discribed Buck Bos as a nice guy who is sort of a player with the ladies.  "He has a big smile and very white teeth.  He's always wearing Hawaiian or tropical shirts.  When I go to the State Fair, it seems I always run into him partying with a bunch of ladies at the beer tents." 

Sounds like my kind of guy.  I wanted to meet him after that, but he wasn't in his place that afternoon.  My sister and I sat at the bar and we were greeted by a tall, slender blond-haired bartender.  She asked us if we needed menus.  I said, "I understand that you guys have the award winning tenderloin for this year."

She said, "Well, yes, we do!  Would you like to try one?" 

Absolutely!  My sister was still full from her lunch a couple hours before and she just had a beer while we caught up on what's been going on with our lives. 

About 10 minutes after I ordered the tenderloin, the bartender brought it out.  It was a thin, breaded tenderloin cut in half with raw onion rings and pickles off to the side.  A side of fries came with the sandwich, but I wasn't interested.

It turns out that Buck Bos gets his pork from the same place Brad Magg at Goldie's gets his tenderloins - from the Fareway store in Altoona.  (Mitchellville and Prairie City are only about seven miles apart as the crow flies, and about a 15 minute drive between the two communities.)  The only difference, as it was explained to me by the bartender, is that Fareway does all the processing of the tenderloins for Goldie's - cutting, tenderizing, etc. - while Buck buys the pork tenderloin, does his own cutting and hand tenderizes them with a cook's hammer.  "Buck was using this thing that looked like a mallet at first," the bartender said to me.  "But then he got this big cook's hammer and he can really flatten them out."

While the tenderloin was large and hanging over the bun, it wasn't so flat and huge that the taste had been literally hammered out of it.   I've said many times that too often I've run across pork tenderloin sandwiches at restaurants where they're literally two sizes too large for the bun.  When they hammer 'em out to be that large in area, they also hammer the juiciness out of them, too.  Buck's tenderloin was big, but not big enough to make them dry in taste.

Now, I'm not usually big on breaded tenderloins - I like a good unbreaded, grilled tenderloin for a sandwich from time to time.  Buck's breaded tenderloin was good, better in my opinion than the one at Goldie's.  But as I confessed to the bartender after she asked how my tenderloin was, neither Buck's nor Goldie's could hold a candle to the Augusta in Oxford.  The breading at Augusta was better - it's more of a batter breading, I believe.  The bartender said, "We had a couple in from Creston the other day trying the sandwich and they said they liked the battered tenderloins better than the breaded ones." 

The pork tenderloin at Augusta in Oxford is still the best restaurant pork tenderloin sandwich I've ever had.

It's not that the tenderloin at Buck's was bad - far from it.  But I've had similar tenderloins at any number of places across the state over the years.  I honestly don't know how the Iowa Pork Producers can judge how one tenderloin is better than another.  The breading on Buck's tenderloin was better than the one at Goldie's, but quite honestly they're all pretty much the same.  But Buck Bos gets to wear the crown of having the Best Tenderloin in Iowa for a year and they've already seen a spike in business since they were named the 2010 award winners in early October.   And, quite honestly, other than getting the tenderloin, Buck's seems like a cool place to just hang out and have a beer.  I may have to stop more often to have a cold one with my sister as I pass by Mitchellville on my way to wherever.

(Update - My sister told me in August of 2011 that Buck's had closed its doors.  Rumors I've heard had something to do about a divorce, but I didn't think Buck was married.  In any event, the reigning Best Pork Tenderloin in Iowa is no longer available.)     

Goldie's Ice Cream Shoppe - Prairie City, IA

Since 2003, the Iowa Pork Producers Association has staged a contest where they invite people to nominate restaurants who they believe has the best breaded pork tenderloin sandwich in the state.  I tried the 2008 winner - Augusta in Oxford, IA, just outside of Iowa City and not far from Cedar Rapids.  And I was plenty impressed with their pork tenderloin sandwich.  In 2009, the winner of the best pork tenderloin sandwich in Iowa was a small sandwich/ice cream shop in Prairie City - Goldie's Ice Cream Shoppe - not far from where I grew up in the Newton/Kellogg area, and a 20 minute drive from Des Moines thanks to a four-lane highway that now connects SE Iowa with the greater Des Moines area. On a trip back home from Kansas earlier this past summer, I stopped into Goldie's to see if their tenderloin sandwich stacked up. 

I found out that there is somewhat of a personal connection between the owner of Goldie's - Brad Magg (pictured at right) - and myself.  It turns out that Magg's mother, Marilee, and I graduated together from Newton High School back in the 1970's and we were pretty good friends during that time.  Time and circumstances have caused Marilee and I to not connect for over 30 years, so it was sort of interesting that I found out her son was the one behind Goldie's.

Brad Magg started out cooking when he was an early teenager, baking cookies and pies and selling them to people in and around the NW Jasper County area.  He turned that into a catering business by the time he was 15, then after graduating from high school he earned a degree from the Iowa Culinary Institute at Des Moines Area Community College in Ankeny.

A month before he got his degree, Magg, along with his mother and his father, Gary, bought the ice cream shop in Prairie City from Golda Ingram - the "Goldie" of Goldie's.  Before the Magg's bought the place, Goldie's was nothing more than a seasonal ice cream shop.  When Brad Magg came in, he expanded the building, added food to the menu and kept the place open year round.  The young Magg kept Goldie Ingram on board where she continues to work four days a week. 

While the ingredients for the breading that Magg uses on his tenderloins is a secret, he fully acknowledges that he buys all of his pork cutlets at the Fareway store in nearby Altoona.  Fairway usually has some top quality meat to choose from.  The Altoona Fareway cuts and tenderizes each of the loins for Goldie's. 

In addition to the pork tenderloins that have suddenly given them a measure of fame, Goldie's also has a grilled pork tenderloin sandwich, a marinated pork loin sandwich, a hot ham and Swiss cheese sandwich and an Italian sausage sandwich.  In fact, the pork used for the Italian sausage sandwich and the beef for the hamburgers at Goldie's come from the Magg family farm and are processed at a small butcher shop in Magg's hometown of Mingo, IA. 

It was a lazy summer afternoon when I pulled into Prairie City.  Highway 163 now by-passes the small rural town, but Goldie's is on what used to be the main route through the city when 163 was a two-lane road (see map).  Goldie's is not unlike any other small restaurant/ice cream shop in any small Iowa town.  The outside is tidy and neat, the parking lots are on either side of the building and there's not much as far as signage along the road to alert you that you've arrived. 

 

I walked into Goldie's and there were a couple farmers in there having mid-afternoon coffee, clearly eying the out-of-towner walking through the door.  While there were tables and booths in the place, I took a seat at the old fashioned soda bar counter and took a quick look at the menu that was placed behind the napkin holder.   An older woman - who happened to be Goldie Ingram - and a couple of the girls working in the place were having a mid-afternoon snack at a table along the west wall.  Another young lady asked me if I knew what I wanted and I didn't hesitate - "You guys won the best pork tenderloin award this past year.  I'm here to give it a shot." 

She said, "Well, all righty, then!"  She asked if I wanted anything on it and I told her yellow mustard, pickles and onions.  I never use any tomato-based products on a breaded pork tenderloin sandwich, not even barbecue sauce. 

While I waited, a lady came in to get some soft-serve ice cream.  I also noticed they had a number of homemade pie slices in a couple holders on the counter.  The "special" board above the back soda bar touted the different types of pie and ice cream Goldie's had available that day.  It was a slice of small town living that I certainly remembered when I was growing up. 

Since I was the only one in there getting food at that point (the farmers had long gone, figuring the stranger wasn't anyone to trifle with), my breaded pork tenderloin showed up in just a bit over five minutes.  The sandwich came out open-faced with a ton of pickles and a sliced red onion with a kosher dill spear on the side.   I put a little mustard on the sandwich and I took a bite. 

Now, I've had a number of breaded pork tenderloins over the year - I live in Iowa, for God's sake.  Some are just thin and huge, hanging well over the bun and impossible to eat without a knife and fork.  Those, I've found, are usually not that good.  The ones that are just a bit bigger than the bun are usually the best.  And that was the size of the Goldie's breaded pork tenderloin.  The only problem was that their pork tenderloin sandwich was average, at best.  I mean, it was good, but it certainly didn't open my eyes like the tenderloin at Augusta did when I tried it after they won the 2008 award.  It was OK, but far from the best breaded pork tenderloin I've ever had. 

When I got up to pay my bill, Goldie Ingram asked me, "So, what do you think about our pork tenderloin?"

I had to be honest.  "It was good," I said.  "But, I really can't say it was the best I ever had." 

While I'm happy for Marilee and her son, I walked away from Goldie's thinking that if this was the best tenderloin in the state of Iowa for the year 2009 there had to be some pretty average places that were nominated.   Still, Goldie's is a slice of small-town life where you can go and get a good sandwich at a reasonable price and know that it just isn't going to suck.  But at the same time, it's not going to be "knock-your-socks-off" great.  If you find yourself going by Prairie City during the middle part of the day, it won't hurt to stop in to Goldie's and get something to eat.

Tasty Tacos - Des Moines

What I call Des Moines style tacos are unique in that a handful of local places over the years will deep fry the flour tortilla shell giving it a fluffy and somewhat crunchy contour.  Some places would actually roll the beef and into the shell and pop it down in a fryer for about 15 to 20 seconds.  Unfortunately two of my favorite places that used to do their tacos that way - Lil' Nips Taco Village and Raul's - are long out of business.  However, there is one establishment in Des Moines that still deep fries the flour tortillas - Tasty Tacos. 

Tasty Tacos began in 1961 in what is described as a little "hole-in-the-wall" location in Des Moines.  Richard and Antonia Mosqueda built the business from their first location into now five locations around the greater Des Moines area.  A sixth location is expected to open in north suburban Ankeny this summer.  The Mosqueda family is still involved with the business.   Rick Mosqueda is the overall manager of the business, but is also well known in the Des Moines area as being a drummer for a number of blues-style bands over the years.  Rick's brother, Andre, is a long-time disc-jockey who has his own local blues show on a local radio station in Des Moines.  The food at Tasty Tacos is not very different from the time I first visited one of their places nearly 30 years ago. 

I got into Des Moines late one evening and was looking for something quick before I checked into my hotel near the Des Moines Airport.  I immediately thought about the Tasty Taco location on SE 14th St., a couple three miles east of where I was staying (see map).  It was just before 9 p.m. when I pulled into the place.  A worker was mopping the floor in part of the restaurant and a younger couple was enjoying their food toward the back of the place. 

I knew exactly what I wanted when I got to the front counter and looked up at the menu - two original beef tacos.  You can also get Tasty Tacos' original taco with refried beans, chicken or steak.  Tasty Taco is more of a fast-food type of Mexican restaurant with a limited variety of Mexican food such as burritos, enchiladas, nachos and tostadas.  

 

It was about a three minute wait before my number was called and I went up to the counter and picked up my tacos.  The tacos came out in a plastic basket on top of wax paper - nothing fancy in the presentation, that's for sure.  The shells were puffed up the way that I like them, but with a little crunchy texture to the outside edges.  They were stuffed with ample amounts of seasoned ground beef, lettuce and shredded cheese.  With the addition of some of their homemade salsa, the tacos had a little spicy kick to them.  The taste and texture of the taco shell at Tasty Tacos is what sets them apart from other places that sell tacos. I just like that deep fried shell giving the taco a little more heft to the overall taste and feel of the shell.  

Now, Tasty Taco is far from having what I would call authentic Mexican food.  And there are a number of places in the Des Moines area that have a great selection of Mexican items on their menu.  Lord knows there's enough Taco John's and Taco Bell fast food restaurants in the area.  Tasty Taco's niche is right in between the national fast food and the local authentic restaurants and at a much better value.  Tasty Tacos may have originated the deep fried taco shell in Des Moines.  But if Lil' Nips and Raul's were still open, I would have to call Tasty Tacos my third favorite deep fried flour taco in the Des Moines area.  But since Tasty Taco is the only one remaining, they - by default - make my favorite deep fried flour taco in Des Moines.  And that's not a back-handed compliment to the restaurant - Tasty Taco's original flour tacos are still consistently very good and a nice treat for me from time to time.  The Mosqueda family has been doing this for nearly 50 years and there's something to be said about consistency. 

B&B Grocery Meat and Deli - Des Moines

(Note - B&B Grocery made Road Tips' updated Top Ten List of Best Burgers for 2011.  Click here to see the entry.)

A shout out today to my good friend, Jeff "Burph" Versteegh, who asked me earlier this year if I'd ever been to the Killer Deli inside B&B Grocery in Des Moines.  He said, "They've got pretty good sandwiches there."  Not only had I never been there, I'd never heard of the place.  And after doing some research, then subsequently visiting B&B Grocery earlier this summer, I'm sort of embarrassed to say that it had never, ever popped up on my radar before. 

One of the biggest reasons for my embarrassment is that I grew up near Des Moines and thought of myself as a guy who knew a lot of the out of the way places in the city.  But B&B Grocery never registered before and it should have - they've been in business for 88 years. 

Brothers John and Archie Brooks opened the little south side grocery in Des Moines in 1922 making B&B the oldest grocery store in the city.  Over the years, John and Archie expanded their little store, even opening a second location at the corner of SE 6th and SE Hartford - across from their present location today (see map). 

Archie Brooks passed away in 1957 and his brother continued to run the business with the help of Archie's widow, Gwen, and Archie's two sons - John A and Archie, Jr.  John Brooks retired in 1965 and Gwen retired to Arizona in 1971 leaving her two sons to run the business.  John A. Brooks eventually bought the store from the family in 1977 and along with his wife and sons, they ushered B&B into the modern era by adding homemade deli sandwiches to their butcher business.  Their sandwiches are named "Killer Sandwiches" because that's what a hungry railroad worker asked for when he wandered in one day nearly 30 years ago.   

John A. Brooks sons - Joe and John A., Jr. (right - this picture had to be taken 20 years ago) - took over the family business and continued the family tradition. Joe's daughter and John's sons also work in the family business making 4 generations of Brooks who have worked behind the counter at B&B.  And, reportedly, there's now a 5th generation of the Brooks family who will one day work in the family business.  

Not only is B&B Grocery known for their "Killer Sandwiches" and their old-fashioned meat counter that continues to stock specialty meats and cheese that grocery stores quit carrying long ago, they're also known as having one of the best hamburgers in Des Moines.  That's right - a deli/meat market making their own burger.  While a burger was intriguing on my initial visit, I was there for a good ol' "Killer Sandwich".  

It was just before the noon lunch rush when I walked into B&B Grocery.  I could easily smell the burger meat cooking on a grill as I walked in.  I went past the front counter and down toward the meat counter to check out the menu posted on a board behind the counter.  As I was sort of standing there, I heard this voice next to me say, "What are YOU doing here?"

It was an old friend from my days growing up in nearby Newton, Terry Moss, who was there on his lunch hour picking up a sandwich with a co-worker.  I told him that our mutual friend, Burph, had turned me on to this place and I was there to try it out.  Terry asked, "Are you gonna write about it on your blog?"  Well, of course, Terry!  

I went up to the counter and Joe Brooks was there.  I said, "I hear you guys have great sandwiches." 

He said, "Oh, you bet!"  And he described a couple of them including "Dad's Killer Sandwich" -  roast beef, turkey breast, smoked ham, corned beef, pepper cheese, Swiss cheese, American cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, Kosher pickles, mustard, Miracle Whip, Tuscan Italian dressing on a soft Italian hoagie roll.  "It's the original 'Killer Sandwich' that my dad came up with."  I immediately signed up for one of those. 

While I waited, I chatted up Terry, catching up on things going on in our lives and checking out other things they had to offer on their menu.  Good God, they had a lot to offer.  They had different sizes of burgers from a single patty all the way up to the 1.3 pound "Quadzilla" burger featuring 4 1/3 lb. burger patties.  They also had homemade breaded tenderloin sandwiches, Italian sausage sandwiches, grilled rib eye and grilled chicken sandwiches and a who list of variations of a "name-your-own" killer sandwich.  My friend, Burph, said that he's particularly fond of the "Zach's Killer" (named after John Brooks' son) sandwich that has more Italian meats on it than the potpourri of traditional meats on a "Dad's Killer".  Oooo...  Another sandwich to try on another trip to B&B Grocery. 

A young girl brought out my sandwich to me and I went over to the cooler and pulled out a bottle of water.  The procedure then it to take it to the counter and pay for it.  While B&B Grocery has a sit down area with a counter and swivel chairs, I opted to take mine to my car and get going for what was going to be a long trip between Des Moines and Manhattan, KS. 

As I unwrapped my "Dad's Killer" sandwich, I could easily see that it was stacked high with the four different types of meat and the three different types of cheese.  The lettuce was shredded and there were pretty ripe tomatoes on the sandwich as well. 

From the first bite I could immediately see why the "Dad's Killer" sandwich has been voted the best deli sandwich in the Des Moines over the past few years.  The bread was light and chewy, the meat was great and the cheese was very fresh.  Even with the combination of the Miracle Whip, mustard and the Italian dressing, it was a "killer" sandwich.  It reminded me a lot of the Davanni's "assorted whole" sandwich that I like to get when I visit the Twin Cities.  And I love those sandwiches tremendously.  But the "Dad's Killer" sandwich was definitely on par with the sandwiches at Davanni's. 

I was back in Des Moines for business later in the summer and had a chance to stop by the Killer Deli at B&B Grocery for one of their cheeseburgers.  It was the middle part of the afternoon when I got in there, but there was still four or five people waiting on sandwiches. 

I asked the 20-something cook behind the counter about the burgers and whether a single or a double would be the best.  He was a young guy of small stature and he said, "I can down a double hamburger, no problem.  You can do a double."  So I ordered up a double with cheese. 

It takes about 15 minutes to make a burger at B&B Grocery, so I wandered around the store looking at stuff and grabbing a newspaper to read.  Finally, the guy yelled out, "Hey, your double cheeseburger with everything is ready!"  He placed the burger wrapped in butcher paper on the counter for me.  The price was only $3.89 - a great bargain for a big cheeseburger.

After paying for the burger at the check out counter, I decided that I wanted to use their little dining area toward the front of the store to enjoy my burger.  The bun was soft and chewy, the burger patties were thick and juicy.  The burger itself was very flavorful and very good.  It had just a little pink in the middle, just the way I like my burgers.  The cheese just oozed off the burgers and it was definitely a four napkin meal.  I may have to add B&B Grocery to my honorable mention list of burgers when I update it at some point. 

As I was leaving, the kid who made my burger was out back behind the store on a smoke break.  He said, "Hey, buddy!  How did you like that burger?"

I told him it was very good.  "Surprisingly good," I said with emphasis. 

He said, "Great!  Glad you enjoyed it!" 

In addition to other awards for having the best burgers, tenderloins and being the best south side grocery store in Des Moines, B&B Grocery has also garnered the "Best Kept Secret in Des Moines" award, as well.   Well, I certainly didn't know about the place until Burph told me and I'm certainly glad I did.  The "Killer Sandwich" was, well, killer.  The burger was excellent.  My next visit, I'll be getting a "Zach's Killer" sandwich.  B&B Grocery is one of those little out of the way gems that I love finding during my travels - even if someone has to tell me about it first.

Smashburger - Des Moines

 

During my trip to Denver last fall, I heard about a newer burger place called Smashburger.  They get the name from the way they make their burgers.  The initially smash them onto the grill to get the some of the juice out of the patty and they cook the burger in those juices.  It helps sear the patty and keeps some of the remaining juices inside.  I found out there was a Smashburger location in the Des Moines area and it just so happened that I would be in Des Moines for a day trip to call on my dealers.  I wanted to give Smashburger a try.

Smashburger began in 2007 in Denver.  The founder, Tom Ryan, was a veteran of the fast-food restaurant industry.  He got his start working for Pizza Hut and was part of the team that developed the Stuffed Crust and Meat Lovers pizzas.  Ryan went on to Long John Silvers and after a short while, he was picked up by McDonalds to develop new concepts.  Ryan headed an internal group that came up with McGriddles, yogurt parfaits and the Dollar Menu while at McDonalds. 

Ryan left McDonalds to be part of the executive team at Quiznos.  Along with CEO Rick Schaden, Quiznos saw a significant jump in franchises when Ryan was the chief marketing and branding officer.  In 2007, Schaden sold Quiznos to CCMP Capital, an arm of monetary heavyweight J.P. Morgan.  Schaden and Ryan then formed their own investment firm, Capital Consumer Partners (along with Dave Prokupek), and their first venture was coming up with the Smashburger concept and providing $15M in funding to start the chain. 

The initial Smashburgers were located in Denver, but today there are nearly 40 locations in 12 states with a nearly equal number of planned stores that will open in early 2010.  Earlier this year, it was announced Rick Schaden had left Smashburger and had been named the CEO at Quiznos again.   Ryan, Prokupek and company president Scott Crane run the day-to-day operations of Smashburger. 

The interior of a typical Smashburger location is sort of a casual contemporary.  The color scheme is mainly red and white.  There's a number of booths and table throughout the place.  You order at the main counter, pay up front and they'll bring your food out to you at your table after giving you a number.

The menu at Smashburger is rather interesting.  They have five basic burgers, or you have the opportunity to make your own burger with three different types of buns, five different cheeses, and over a dozen different sauces, dressings and toppings.  For a price, you can also add on another burger patty, bacon, a fried egg, onion straws, and a handful of other premium toppings.

Smashburger also features grilled chicken sandwiches, salads and hot dogs.  They feature a number of sides including something called "Smashfries" - regular french fried potatoes that are tossed in a mixture of olive oil, rosemary, garlic and other herbs before they're deep fried.   For the health conscious - I'm guessing - they also have "Vegetable Frites".  They consist of asparagus spears, carrot sticks and whole green beans that are quickly fried to keep the veggies from losing their "snap".

While the menu is similar at many locations, each region adds a different flair to the menu.  The menu in Des Moines adds an "Iowa Smashburger" which is one of their burgers topped with Maytag Blue Cheese, applewood-smoked bacon, onion rings, lettuce, tomato and and mayo on an egg bun.  In the Twin Cities, their specialty burger has cheddar and Swiss cheese on top, followed with garlic grilled onions and lettuce, tomato and mayo.  In Nebraska, the "Husker Burger" is topped with A-1 sauce, onion rings, garlic grilled mushrooms, lettuce, tomato, and mayo.  Unfortunately, you can't get the "Arizona Smashburger" other than off of the menu in Arizona.  That has habanero cheese, guacamole, lettuce, tomato, onions, chipotle mayo and jalapenos.  Now, that sounds like a taste explosion in your mouth.

It was well after the noon-time rush when I found the Des Moines location in suburban West Des Moines (see map).  Located in a strip mall near the corners of University Ave. and 22nd St., it's sort of difficult to get into the parking lot for Smashburger if you're traveling from the north.  You have to take a left at the light that takes you down a small street which allows you to get into the parking lot near a Mexican restaurant and then drive around to the front of the strip mall where Smashburger is located.

I went to the counter and took a quick look at the menu.  While I was intrigued by some of the toppings and add-ons, I decided to go with Smashburger's "All-American" burger - a 1/2 pound (or 1/3 pound) burger topped with American cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, and pickles and served on a fresh baked egg bun.  I figured that if Smashburger was good, I could easily go back and try my own concoction at some point.  And while the "Smashfries" sounded interesting, I was just going for the burger that day.  Smashburger also offers cold bottles of beer to go along with your meal, but I still had some calls to do that day so I just got a bottle of water with my meal.

Now, smashing a burger goes against every fiber of my being.  But quite honestly, that's how old-time burger joints made their hamburgers for years and year.  Instead of hand-pattying the burger, they would scoop the burger into a ball.  They'd place the balled-up burger onto a hot griddle grill and then smash them down with a spatula.  As I said earlier, this technique allowed the initial juices to come out of the meat and help make the outside of the meat sort of crispy.  This also kept a lot of the remaining juices inside the burger.  Now, of course, keep in mind that this could only be done on a flat grill top as if you smash a burger on a grate over an open fire, the juices just make the fire flare up.  Smashburger also seasons their burgers during the cooking process helping to make the somewhat crusty outer shell of the burger even more pronounced.

It wasn't more than about 10 minute later when one of the girls from behind the counter brought out my All-American Smashburger.  The bun was light and fluffy, the toppings were generous and I could already tell the burger was still juicy even after the smash.   And that was completely confirmed after my first bite.  There was still a good amount of juices that dripped out of the burger onto the wax paper.  The somewhat crunchy outer shell of the patty was curiously good.  The taste did remind me of some old time burger places that I remember when I was a younger kid.  The toppings were very fresh and flavorful, as well.  And even though it was a 1/2 burger, I made short work of the meal.

I was back in Des Moines on a recent trip back from Minneapolis.  It was late in the afternoon - about 4 p.m. - and I hadn't had anything to eat since having a small pastry early in the morning.  I went back to Smashburger and got a "build-your-own" burger this time.  I started with the half-pound burger on a spicy chipotle bun.  Then I had them top it with pepper jack cheese, red onion, pickle slices, jalapenos, ketchup and mustard.  I have to say that it was pretty damn good - and pretty damn hot!  The jalapenos were freshly chopped.  Yow!  I had to down two Bud Lights with the burger just to help cut the heat.

OK, I was impressed with Smashburger.  It's a different taste to their burger, but one that is far from being displeasing.  By smashing the patty, no two Smashburgers look exactly the same.  And by being able to build your own burger, each Smashburger can be very unique.   In a world where a number of burger places with a relaxed and casual atmosphere are popping up all over the place, Smashburger does a real good job of differentiating themselves from the others.  I'm sort of glad that I finally found one!

The Tavern - West Des Moines

 

One place that is one of my favorite pizza places in the whole world is The Tavern with three locations in the Des Moines area.  But The Tavern also does a good job of making one of my all time favorite sandwiches - the Grinder (a.k.a Gizmo's).  I was in Des Moines recently and decided to go to The Tavern not far from my hotel in West Des Moines.

The Tavern is an institution in the West Des Moines area.  The original Tavern began during the Depression of the 30's, not long after the end of Prohibition.  But it was the mid-40's when John and Mary Rilei bought the small tavern in the Valley Junction area of West Des Moines (see map).  It featured a pool table, a bar and a small seating area.  It wasn't long after they opened when they began to serve their own version of what was a Des Moines favorite of the time - the Guinea Grinder.  It wasn't much longer before the Rieli's added thin crust pizza to the menu.  The response was overwhelming.  Before long, the kitchen was expanded, the pool table was gone and more seating became available for the tons of people coming in to have John and Mary's food.

John Rilei passed away from cancer in 1970 and Mary decided to keep the business going.  She ran it another 18 years before selling it to long time friend Chuck Celsi, the son of Italian immigrants.  Mary Rilei continued to live upstairs overseeing the day-to-day operations with Chuck's blessing.  Chuck expanded the menu to include some of his mother's famous recipes and also expanded the original Valley Junction location a couple years later.  A second Tavern - The Tavern II - opened in West Des Moines in 1995 (see map); and Celsi opened a third location - The Tavern South - on Army Post Road in 1997 (see map). 

My first visit to The Tavern was a memorable one back in the late 70's when I was with a group of guys I used to play basketball with.  After an organizational meeting we attended for a men's basketball league in West Des Moines, we walked down the street to The Tavern for a couple beers.  We started off having beers only, then we saw someone bring out one of their pizzas.  Someone in our group said, "Hey, that doesn't look bad."  We ended up ordering a large pizza and a large order of their great homemade onion rings between the four of us and I've been hooked ever since. 

The Tavern features thin crust pizza with loads of fresh toppings including the big chunks of sausage that I like.  One of my favorites is their "Sting" pizza - seasoned Italian sausage, jalapenos and hot pepper cheese.  Oh man!  It definitely gets your attention!  They also feature a Grinder called the "Sting" that has jalapenos and is topped with pepper jack cheese instead of Mozzarella.  That, too, is one of my favorite sandwiches to have when I'm at The Tavern.

The Tavern II seats about 375 people so waiting is usually never a problem.  It's split into two large rooms with a small private room toward the back of the place.  As you walk in, there's a large bar area to the right and that's the room the hostess sat me in the night I was there recently.  I wasn't really in the mood for pizza, but I did think a "Sting" Grinder would be a spot-hitter.  I ordered one of those along with a dinner salad with The Tavern's homemade creamy Parmesan. 

For as extensive of a menu that The Tavern has, I haven't ever tried anything OTHER than the pizza, Grinder sandwiches or their great onion rings, and I've been going there for over 30 years.  In addition to pasta dishes, chicken Parmesan and beef Deburgo on the menu, The Tavern also has a number of sandwiches, salads and appetizers to choose from.  The Tavern is also offering Chicago "deep dish" style pizzas, too.  But I usually just go for the thin-crust pizza and the Grinders.  Both are very good.

After finishing my salad, my waiter brought out the "Sting" Grinder with a side of fries.  Over the years, I think the size of the Grinder at The Tavern has shrunk while the price has gone up.  But I've got past that long ago.  The "Sting" Grinder is cut in half and oozes cheese, seasoned Italian sausage and jalapenos.  While the jalapenos get your attention, they don't overpower the taste of the sausage which is the key to the sandwich.  The bread is sort of crunchy from the high temperature cooking process to melt the cheese, but not hard or burnt tasting.   It didn't take me long to devour the "Sting" Grinder.  And, as always, it was great. 

The Tavern is a good bet - at any of their locations - to have a good meal if you're in the mood for pizza or a Grinder.  Usually, people say the original location is the best, but I think all three Tavern locations do a fine job.  The Tavern is another example of good, down-home Italian food that you can find in the Des Moines area.   

Johnny's Italian Steakhouse - West Des Moines, IA

I recently took a dealer and his wife out to dinner at Johnny's Italian Steakhouse in suburban West Des Moines (see map).  I'd eaten at the Johnny's Italian Steakhouse in Moline before, and they suggested dinner at the one in West Des Moines.  We had some business to discuss and I thought it would be a good choice for a good dinner and some quiet conversation.

Johnny's Italian Steakhouse is part of the Heart of America chain of restaurants and hotels owned and run by Quad City native Mike Whalen.  Whalen got his start in the restaurant business by opening the original Machine Shed restaurant in Davenport back in the late 70's.  Two of his Machine Shed restaurants - the other one is in the Des Moines suburb of Clive - are the highest volume restaurants in the state of Iowa.  Whalen was most recently known in our area as the failed Republican candidate for Congress in 2008. 

Johnny's Italian Steakhouse is designed to be an upscale restaurant, reminiscent of old time big city Italian restaurants that served steaks, seafood and pasta.  The decor is what I would describe as a muted formal with large dark wood tables, dark pastel walls with tasteful lighting, and comfortable seating.   In addition to the West Des Moines and Moline locations, there are Johnny's Italian Steakhouses in Middleton, WI, Peoria, IL, Omaha, NE, and another location in Des Moines near the airport. 

The Johnny's Italian Steakhouse in West Des Moines is attached to a Holiday Inn, not far from Jordan Creek Mall.  It's just one of a number of restaurants that have sprouted up in the immediate area over the past few years.  I was staying at another hotel close-by, so I ran over to the Holiday Inn to meet my dealer and his wife.  When I got there, the large bar area that is in front of the dining area at Johnny's was packed.  I didn't have reservations, but the hostess said we could have immediate seating for three when my dealer and his wife showed up.  It wasn't much longer before they showed up and we were shown to a booth toward the back of the restaurant. 

We were handed menus and a wine list.  Our waiter was a nice young guy who was being shadowed by a young girl who was in training to be a waitress.  Both were dressed in formal attire and were very friendly.  They brought out a basket of fresh baked bread with olive oil and fresh parmesan for us to munch on prior to ordering.  I immediately ordered a bottle of the Franciscan Cabernet while we looked over our menus for dinner. 

One thing that I immediately recognized on the menu was something I'd had when I first ate at the Johnny's in Moline a few years ago - Johnny's Filet Medallion Trio - three small beef tenderloin filets that were topped and encrusted, one with horseradish, one with Maytag Blue Cheese, and one with parmesan cheese.  It was very good, but it was unbelievably rich.  Since I was still sort of on my diet, I crossed that off my list right off the bat. 

Johnny's also features monthly specials that range from steak dishes to seafood to pasta dishes to some Italian specialty, such as a veal plate.  None of the special featured entrees tripped my trigger that evening, so I focused on a couple things on the main menu. 

The steaks definitely caught my eye, but I was more in the mood for chicken.  Johnny's famous Steak De Burgo was calling my name, but I kept looking at the Chicken piccata - a grilled chicken breast topped with a white wine and lemon piccata sauce and served with a side of broccoli.  That's what I ended up ordering when they took my order.  I also got a dinner salad that is usually served family style, but my dealer and his wife ended up getting French onion soup, so they just did all the fixin's for me back in the kitchen. 

My dealer's wife has two favorite things on the menu - Johnny's Veal Sinatra, which consists of veal slices topped with shrimp, crab, mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic and basil - and Johnny's Chanel No. 5, which is a pasta dish featuring lobster, shrimp, artichokes, proscuitto and cheese ravioli.  But one of the specials that evening was a dish consisting of crab-stuffed shrimp with a side of mixed vegetables.  That's what she ended up getting. 

My dealer was in a quandary.  He said, "Chicken sounds good tonight.  I always get the steak here.  I'm going to break the monotony and get chicken."   He ended up getting the chicken marsala with asparagus spears. 

We worked through our soups and salads having a business conversation and catching up on what was going on.   Johnny's Italian Steakhouse turned out to be a great place to do a business dinner.  It wasn't loud, there were minimal distractions and the service was polished with no hint of pushiness. 

Our main entrees showed up and I was disappointed in the size of the portion of chicken breasts I had on my plate.  Actually, instead of one whole medium-sized chicken breast, there were three smaller "medallions" doused in the lemon piccata sauce.  They were still very good, but I just felt the portions were a little skimpy.

My dealer said his chicken marsala was good, but also commented on the size of the three small chicken portions on his plate.  "It's like someone ate part of the meal on the way to the table," he exclaimed.

There was no disappointment in his wife's voice, however.  The four stuffed shrimp she declared as "out of this world."  She said, "I love this place.  I've never had a bad meal each time we've come here."  

I didn't think my meal was bad, I just didn't think it was that great of a value.  Even trying to cut smaller bites of the chicken and doing most of the talking during dinner, I was finished in well under 10 minutes.  Had I been on my own and not talking, I'm sure the meal would have been done in under three minutes.

With the wine and a nice tip for the waiter, our bill came to about $135 bucks.  Once again, I didn't think it was that good of a value.  But the food - what there was of it - was very good, the service was wonderful and the surroundings were inviting.  However, I don't think I'm going to be searching out a Johnny's Italian Steakhouse anytime soon.  I just think there are places that are just as nice as Johnny's with greater food values.  

A Return to Chuck's - Des Moines

 One of my all-time favorite pizza places is Chuck's Italian-American Restaurant in Des Moines (see map).  I initially wrote about Chuck's here, but I wanted to provide some pictures of the experience this time.

Chuck Bisignano started Chuck's in 1956 along with his wife, Elizabeth.  His brother, Babe, ran the famous Babe's restaurant in Des Moines for years.  The Bisignano family has continued to run Chuck's since the day it opened with Chuck's daughter, Linda, running the day-to-day operation.  In fact, Linda started working in the restaurant when she was only 12 years old.  She had hoped to eventually move to New York City after graduating from college in 1971, but after her father died she moved into the small apartment upstairs and ran the restaurant.  Linda, who never married, is also a breast cancer survivor.   

At the end of our vacation this summer, we ended up in Des Moines for the Iowa State Fair.  The night before we went to the fair, we met up with my cousins Tom and John Wehrle, and John's significant other, Bonnie Loman.  We knew we were going to meet up weeks in advance and plans were made to all go to Chuck's for pizza, beer and greasy onion rings that Friday night. 

Here's the happy group entering Chuck's anticipating great pizza, cold beer and the greasiest onion rings this side of Joe's Garage.  Chuck's has been in business since 1956 and I'm not certain they've ever done any remodeling or updating to the place.  It definitely has been a neighborhood mainstay in the Highland Park area of Des Moines. 

We got a table in the back of the restaurant and immediately ordered up onion rings and beer.  The waiter was sort of slammed with other tables, so the service wasn't as prompt as we'd like it.  In fact, when the onion rings showed up, they were sort of lukewarm.  My cousin, John, told the waiter that these were too cold and made him take 'em back.  About five minutes later a new batch came out, definitely warm this time.  But we wondered if they didn't just throw 'em back in the fryer and warm 'em up that way.

We ordered three pizzas among us.  Cindy and I got a sausage, pepperoni and mushroom on one half, and sausage, pepperoni and jalapeno on the other.  Cindy's been on this kick of getting jalapenos on her pizza, then she picks about half of them off.  I can't exactly remember what John and Bonnie got, but I think they got the Chuck's supreme with everything on it. 

And Tom got a pizza, of which I can't remember.  All I know is that it looked great when it came out to the table.  Here's a picture of Tom's pizza.  Man, how come they don't have pizza like this in the Quad Cities?

And here's a shot of our pizza cooling on the table.  Doesn't that just look great?  Chuck's pizza has such a great taste to it.  The crust is light and crisp, but not cracker crisp.  And the toppings - especially the sausage - are just wonderful. 

It's certainly tough to beat a Chuck's pizza any where.  I'd put it up against some of the best neighborhood pizza places I've eaten at in Chicago.  The service was a little iffy that evening at Chuck's, but they were very busy.  It definitely didn't detract us from the great taste of the pizza. 

God, I hate writing these blog entries on an empty stomach.  Those pictures of the pizzas are making my stomach do jumping jacks. 

The Iowa State Fair - 2008

Coming to the end of the summer always means the annual Iowa State Fair in Des Moines.  This year's fair broke attendance records as over 1.1 million people walked through the gates, beating the old mark set in 2004 by about 60,000 people.  Of course, we went on the Saturday this year when nearly 117,000 people attended the fair.  This year, the weather was absolutely gorgeous throughout the fair's run.  Temps were in the upper 70's and low 80's with little humidity and no rain. 

Cindy's work place had a special "Day at the Fair" where they invited workers from their several branches to come spend time at the fair with their families.  Cindy's company has 10 branch offices in places such as Chattanooga, Atlanta, Wichita, Kansas City, Omaha, Des Moines, Waterloo and Cedar Rapids.  And about 275 people from all over the place showed up.  They got us free tickets, free parking passes, put us up in a hotel for the night, fed us and let us drink a shit load of free beer.  It was a fun day, to say the least. 

Of course, we had to roam around with the camera to see what was interesting this year.  Actually, a lot of it is the same ol' stuff - farm equipment, various Iowa industries, new cars and trucks.  But it doesn't take much time to see a lot of it when you go on the Sky Ride over the exhibits.

One of the first places we stopped was to meet up with my cousins, Tom and John Wehrle, and John's significant other, Bonnie, at the Bill Riley Stage.  Playing that morning were the Echo's V - a band that used to be one of the most popular bands in the 1960's in the Central Iowa area.  I remember seeing them a couple times years and years ago, but I couldn't tell you exactly when.  There used to be another guitar player in the band (hence, the Roman numeral "five"), but these guys - probably now all in their late 50's or early 60's - did a great job and cranked out some good old 60's music. 

Our next stop was to get Cindy something to eat.  She loves the Dutch letters from the bakeries around Pella and she found a stand that was selling them the fair.  She wanted to know if I wanted one and I didn't - I was holding out for the ultimate State Fair food.  But she couldn't resist getting a Dutch letter.  Doesn't she look happy in this picture?  And I learned a long time ago that a happy Mama is good thing to have. 

We wandered along the main concourse at the State Fair and went down to the Department of Natural Resources building to see the fish and other game they have on display.  I always like to head out to the outdoor pond to see the trumpeter swans, ducks and geese on display.  It's kind of a nice little setting in the middle of the chaos at the State Fair. 

Of course, there's tons of rides at the State Fair each year.  This thing used to be on the hill on the east end of the fairgrounds, until they put up a power generating windmill on the spot a year or so ago.  So they moved this ride - along with three or four other vomit-inducing attractions - down to the southwest side of the fairgrounds.  I called the area on the top of the hill the "Vomitorium", as the rides were sure to induce major spewage from the mouths of thrill-seeking teenagers and young adults.  So, this is the NEW Vomitorium area. 

This ride - the Ejector Seat - straps a couple people into chairs and a machine pulls the bungee cords tight.  Then the chairs are thrown skyward and the people tumble and go up and down.  If you're lucky you get to see some 14-year-old kid trying to impress his girlfriend throwing up all over himself.

Ah!  Refreshment time.  Never a State Fair goes by without a visit to my favorite watering hole, Stockman's Inn.  They always have the coldest beer on the fairgrounds.  And for a long time they used to have 20 oz. beers for $5.00.  But like everything this summer, they had to raise the price on the 20 oz. glasses to 6 bucks.  Oh, well.  It's still the coldest beer at the fair. 

Some of the guys serving beer at Stockman's have been doing so for many years.  I've been coming to the fair for over 30 years of legal drinking age and I think this guy has been pouring beer at every one. 

Stockman's also had their annual Chili Cook-off the day we were there.  Now, I never knew this before, but they allow for free samples of some of the chili made by the participants in the event after the judging begins at 1 p.m.  I would have liked to tried some of the chili to get some ideas for my own award winning Willi Chili. 

One of the main attractions at this year's fair were the world famous Budweiser Clydesdale pull team.  We wandered down to where they were getting hitched up to the beer wagon for the 2:00 p.m. parade through the fairgrounds.   There are a total of five Clydesdale teams that travel up to 10 months a year for appearances.  The team travels with 12 horses, but only 8 are used for a given appearance. 

Here are the Clydesdale's starting out on their afternoon parade around the fairgrounds.  People were just lined up and down the streets waiting for the hitch team to go by.  But they really are impressive looking, each of them standing about 6 feet tall at their shoulders and weighing between 1800 and 2300 lbs.  They are truly magnificent animals.

A friend of mine, Ed Schneckloth, has a brother who used to be a hitch driver for one of the traveling Clydesdale teams.  Ed has told me some pretty amazing stories of where his brother has traveled to and who he's gotten to meet during his years as a hitch driver.

And it just wouldn't be right for the Budweiser Dalmatian to be left out of the festivities.   This guy is strapped to the wagon in a harness and sits behind the hitch drivers.  This looks to be a pretty cushy gig for the hitch drivers, horses and the dog.  The job I wouldn't want to have is the Budweiser team member who travels behind the team and scoops up horse shit from the street after the team goes by.

We wandered around a little while longer and came across this memorial to Duane Ellett and his little pal, Floppy.  The black onyx memorial is located in front of the grandstand on the main concourse of the State Fair.  Seeing Floppy at the fair was a major highlight for kids from the late 50's thru the early 80's.  To see my "Brush with Greatness" story regarding the time Duane Ellet and Floppy performed at one of my large pasture parties years ago, click here.

It was getting close to lunch time for me.  There is a plethora of things to eat at the State Fair.  In fact, there are 30 different food items that are available on a stick at the fair.  This year, pineapple on a stick was introduced to the crowds at the State Fair.  My cousin told me the Pork Chop on a Stick was pretty damn good, too.  But, for me, there is only one place to eat at the Iowa State Fair.

Yes, it's the one and only Carl's Gizmo - in my opinion, the best sandwich at the State Fair.  Check out my earlier post on Carl's Gizmos here and get the recipe for the sandwich here.  I was fortunate to get one hot out of the oven when I ordered my sandwich.  I topped it off with some hot banana peppers and some mild jalapenos and I was in heaven. 

Here I am taking a bite out of the most delectable sandwich at the fair.  It was absolutely fabulous.  I washed it back with an ice cold beer and I was in heaven.  I ended up eating three Carl's Gizmos during the course of the day, and finished about an 1/8th of the one Cindy ordered later in the day.  We turned some of Cindy's co-workers on to the Gizmo.  I don't know if they were as impressed with them as I am, but that's fine with me. 

Once we got all the food formalities out of the way, it was on to see the biggest and best the State of Iowa has to offer.  Our first stop was to see the largest pumpkin winner.  This guy weighed in at a whopping 1238 lbs., breaking the State Fair record!  It had to be grown on a freight pallet just so they could transport it to the fair from Clinton. 

We continued on to the cattle show arena where they were showing the baby and mid-sized bulls that afternoon.  This is a big thing for a number of farmers across the state of Iowa.  It's like the Super Bowl of cattle shows.  People in the stands also follow along with their little programs, making notes and writing down the winners.  It really is a big deal to many people.

This is one of the entrants in the mid-sized bull division.  This guy was getting pretty feisty when he was being led into the show arena and it was all the gal who was showing him and another older guy could do to get him in the door.  And after all the hassle it was to get the bull in the arena, the girl didn't end up winning a thing. 

Here is the judge for the event giving his explanations as to why he picked a certain bull to be the grand champion and what made that bull better than the reserve champion (2nd place).   I sort of appreciated his comments because they all looked damn fine to me.  But he was talking about how muscle tone, weight distribution, plus the size and shape of the bull as key indicators as to which one is better than another. 

From the cattle show arena, we had to go find the Big Bull - the biggest bull at the State Fair, always an annual highlight.  We went next door to the cattle barn and prominently displayed toward the front of the building was this behemoth.  This is "Tiny", a 3012 lb. Charolais bull from a farm near What Cheer, IA.  Tiny was actually second last year at the State Fair.  His owner got caught up in the competition and just kept feeding him more and more during the past year, and this year "Tiny" won.    This little girl, the owner's granddaughter, was in the pen brushing the back of the bull.  I'll tell you - she had a lot more guts than I ever would have.  But when "Tiny" began to stir, she made a bee-line toward the opening in the gate.

In the swine barn, we then saw the winner of the 2008 "Big Boar" contest at the State Fair.  This is "Freight Train", which happened to be the largest boar shown in the history of the Iowa State Fair.  "Freight Train" weighed in at a whopping 1259 pounds, breaking the 15-year-old record by 13 lbs.!  And, once again, no, those are not hemorrhoids sticking out of "Freight Train's" back side. 

Here's the second place winner for the Big Boar contest, Up Dog".  This guy weighed in at only 1212 lbs.  We missed out looking at the Big Ram in another barn as we had to get to Cindy's function for her company.  But the Big Ram this year was a 432 pound monster.  It would have been fun to see.

It turned out that we were a little early for Cindy's function, so we went next door to the Agriculture Building to take a look at the Butter Cow.  The Butter Cow is a tradition that dates back some 90+ years at the Iowa State Fair.  600 pounds of butter are sculpted over a cow frame by Sarah Pratt and put on display at the fair each year. 

This year, with the 2008 Olympics going strong in Beijing, Pratt also sculpted a likeness of West Des Moines' own Shawn Johnson, the gymnast who won a gold and three silver medals at the games.  My cousin didn't think it looked anything like her, but I thought it was a pretty good likeness.  I mean, c'mon!  It's a person carved out of butter, for God's sake!

Along with the butter cow and the Shawn Johnson sculptures, Pratt also paid homage to four Iowans who made an impact in the agricultural world - Etta May Budd, George Washington Carver, Henry Wallace and Norman Borlaug.  I knew who Carver, Wallace and Borlaug were, but I had to look up who Budd was.  Turns out, she was a professor at Simpson College who persuaded George Washington Carver to go to Iowa State to learn under Budd's father, noted horticulture professor and the first head of the College of Horticulture at ISU, Joseph Budd.  See?  There are actually things you can learn by going to the State Fair.  But I'm not too certain what type of impact Etta May Budd had on the world of agriculture as a whole.

After viewing the butter cow and other butter sculptures, we took a walk around the Agriculture Building to see the prize winning flowers and produce.  It's always kind of interesting to see where our flowers, tomatoes and peppers stack up against the winners at the State Fair. 

Here are the prize winning tomatoes at the fair.  I'll tell you, ours look nothing like these guys.  We've had a tough year for tomatoes.  We're finally starting to get the ripe ones, but we've lost more to disease or to critters than we've been able to pull off the vine to eat.

Always one of my favorite displays - the winners of the best ear of corn contest at the fair.  I don't know if these are from this year or if they were grown last year.  I'm guessing it's the latter.  But just like the people who show their livestock, the corn contest is like the World Cup of competition to many farmers.  Note the Indian corn on the wall above the ears in the bins.

Look at the size of these onions!  I'm not certain I've ever seen onions this big before.  I had Cindy put her hand next to the onions to show the size of these monsters.  I don't know what kind they were, but they were certainly huge.

Here are the winners of the various pepper categories, always a nice and colorful sight to see.  Actually, our green and red peppers in the garden this year could have given the winner at the fair a nice run for the money.  We've gotten some great peppers out of the garden this year, the best success we've ever had. 

After Cindy's event at the Farm Bureau Shelter ended, we went up the hill to see our friends from the Blue Band perform at the State Fair.   Bob Dorr from the Blue Band told me they've performed the last Friday and Saturday nights of the fair for over 20 years.  And they do pack in a good crowd, that's for sure.  We visited with the guys between their early and late shows at the fair.  It's always good to work with these guys at any event I've run over the years.

Night was falling and we decided to take a ride on the north side Sky Ride at the fair.  It was such a beautiful night and the fairgrounds were just packed with people.  Here is a shot of the main concourse at the State Fair around 9 p.m.  You can see a good chunk of the 116,000 people who packed the fair that day in the picture.

Before we left, it was back to Carl's Gizmo for one last Gizmo.  As we were leaving, we walked by the KGGO radio booth at the fair.  The band Everclear, who had opened for Def Leppard at the main grandstand stage earlier in the evening, had just shown up and were signing autographs.  Cindy's a big Everclear fan.  Frankly, I don't know if I could name one of their songs.  I do know, however, that the blond haired guy on the far right is Art Alexakis, their lead singer.  The line wasn't long at the booth when we were there and I prodded Cindy into getting an autograph and I'd take her picture with Alexakis.  Considering that all the other girls in line were 18 to 21 years old, I think Cindy decided it would have been a little creepy for a lady in her mid-40's to be in line to get a picture taken with these guys.

So, another Iowa State Fair has come and gone.  Always good to go, but we also missed a number of exhibits that we like to see.  It's tough to pack the whole fair into one day.  And considering we had to sandwich it around Cindy's work party, I was rather surprised we saw as much as we did.  Oh well, there's always next year...

Beer Crazy - Urbandale, IA

I was traveling through Des Moines calling on a couple of my dealers a while back.  I was at Technology by Design in Urbandale (see map) looking over the remodel of their store.  I noticed a store in their same little strip mall by the name of Beer Crazy.  I asked Brian, the owner of Tech by Design, what that was all about.  Being that Brian isn't much of a drinker, he said, "I don't know.  Some sort of beer shop or something." 

After I left and before I drove out to Omaha, I had to stop in and take a look for myself.  What I found was a little retail location with two rows of shelves fulled with specialty beers.  Behind the shelf area on the north side of the store was a number of products with which to make beer at home.  Although it wasn't a huge place, it was still pretty impressive with the selections they had.

I met and talked with the owner, Mark Naumann (right).  He said he's been a home-brewer for about six years and he's always had a fascination with owning an eclectic beer store, offering beers from around the world as well as beer making supplies.  Mark told me he opened in October of last year.  He told me, "My wife thought I was crazy enough to start a business like this, so I decided to call it 'Beer Crazy'."

Beer Crazy is similar to other stores I've been at that allow you to "Pick a Six" of different beers.  And he had some that I wanted to try. 

The Dixie Brewery was devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and has just reopened.  It was the first place I'd seen the Dixie Blackened Voo Doo and the Dixie Lager since it had been reissued, so I had to pick some of that up.  I also found some of the Bell's Lager and got some of that.  He also had a good selection of Summit beers out of St. Paul and I got some of the Summit Pilsner.  And I found some of the Tiger beer out of Indochina.  I haven't had Tiger beer in a long, long time.  I was thrilled to find it.   

All in all, I picked up about a case of different beers while I was there.  Each six pack was $6.95.  What a great deal when you want to give different varieties a try.

I make it to Des Moines and Technology by Design about four or five times a year.  I told Mark that I'd definitely be back.  I hope an operation like that can sustain momentum and stay in business.  He's definitely living his dream.   

The Drake Relays

The 99th running of the Drake Relays was held recently in Des Moines at Drake Stadium on the campus of Drake University.  My cousin Tom Wehrle had an extra couple of tickets and asked if I wanted to join him, his brother John and his friend Bobbie for one of the days.  I was going to be in Des Moines anyhow, so I said I'd go.

I hadn't been to the Drake Relays in 30 years.  It's been an annual ritual for the Wehrle family since the mid-60's when John ran on the Newton High School track team during the relays.  My uncle Jack kept getting tickets and finally moved his front row seats up to the near top rows at the finish line.  They were great seats.  After Jack moved to Florida, Tom kept getting his tickets.  I'm sure Tom will get tickets forever, as well. 

It was a blustery, yet sort of warm morning when we got to the track.  However, a strong cold front came through in the late morning and the winds came up out of the northwest and temperatures dropped 16 degrees to the mid-40's.  Had it been raining, as they initially said it might, it would have been a truly miserable day.  Sort of like the first time I went to the Drake Relays in 1965.  It was cold - in the low 40's - and rainy.  I had just turned nine years old and I wasn't happy being cold and wet.  After the morning session ended, I ended up going off with my sister Nancy who was a freshman at Drake at that time, and we went to see Mary Poppins at one of the downtown theaters.  It's funny how I remember stuff like that. 

Since my last visit 30 years ago, Drake Stadium has undergone a stunning transformation.  In 2005, the stadium was completely renovated to conform to national and international parameters for track and field.  Much of the original stadium was torn down and the track was made wider.  They moved the stands back so the spectators wouldn't be on top of the runner in the outside lane.  It's quite the showplace for track and field.  So much so that it will host the NCAA Men's and Women's Track and Field Championships in June of this year; and will host the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in 2010.

I got to the track and into my seat just as the first event of the day was beginning.  The crowd was understandably sparse as most of the early events were preliminary races for the high schools.  Still, it allowed me to get a good look of the stadium and all the upgrades they've done. 

Sometimes I amaze myself with the pictures I get.  Here's a shot of Davenport North's A.G. Bradford effortlessly going over the last hurdle during her preliminary race in the 100 yard hurdles for high school girls.  Bradford later won the 100 meter hurdles final, as well as winning the 400 meter hurdles in a record time later during the relays.  She was named the outstanding high school girls performer for the meet.

The sun came out for a bit before the cold front moved through brightening the track.  One thing that I noticed is that the sun sort of washed out the televised images on the scoreboard.  Tom said, "This scoreboard sucks.  It's too small and you can't see the results very well."  I remember the old scoreboard to be nice and large at the north end of the track.  But with the renovation, they've put a bunch of corporate tents along the north end where the scoreboard used to be.  For as nice a facility Drake Stadium is, the scoreboard does, indeed, suck.

And a couple of other things that I noticed after not being around for 30 years.  First of all, the P.A. announcer was horrid.  He got names wrong, he got leaders in races wrong, he was all over the place with his announcing.  They're going to have to do something for a new announcer by the time the NCAA championships come around. 

And I also remember the relays being run like clockwork.  There was little to no deviation of time for the schedule of races.  It used to be that they had to stop the meet for a few minutes to allow the schedule to catch up as they were ahead of schedule many times.  The day I was there they got woefully behind in the afternoon session.  I believe they were supposed to finish around 4:00 p.m and clear the stadium for the night time session that started at 5:30.  But they didn't finish until about 4:35.  It would have been fine if it were sunny and 65, not cloudy, windy, spitting rain and 44. 

After the morning session, the tradition in the past was to go to Noah's Ark for lunch.  But with little time in between sessions, we just ended up going up the street to the infamous Peggy's Tavern.  Peggy's is a legendary Drake University watering hole that has served thousands of students over the years.  It's truly a dump.    But they've got a captive audience during the Drake Relays as it's the only bar in the area of the stadium.  And they featured $5.00 16 oz. tap beer.  Ouch!

We went back for the afternoon session, most of which comprised the preliminaries of the 4X400 meter relays for high schools, colleges and universities.  Tom said, "Now, this is what we pay money to come see."  It is very fun to see the baton hand-offs after each leg.  It's somewhat controlled mayhem at times.  The above picture shows the runners lining up in order of their positions on the track to receive the baton. 

Tom had tickets for the evening session which was going to feature some pretty good races.  But given that it was in the low-40's and I had a three hour drive home, I didn't want to stick around.  Given the centennial Drake Relays is next year, I hope Tom has an extra ticket or two again.  I wouldn't mind going back.  And hopefully the weather will be a lot nicer.

Noah's Ark - Des Moines

Noah's Ark is one of those old time restaurants that has been a large part of my life.  As a kid growing up, it was always the "cool" place to eat in Des Moines when we'd go there.  And now as an adult, it's still one of my all-time favorite places to visit.  Not only is the food good, but the nostalgic value is still certainly very high.

Noah's Ark began in 1946 when Noah Lacona opened the doors at 2400 Ingersoll Ave. in Des Moines (see map).  Over the years, Noah became one of a number of colorful characters who headed restaurants in the Des Moines area along with guys like Babe Bisignano (Babe's Restaurant), his brother, Chuck Bisignano (Chuck's Restaurant), Frank Bonanno (Bammie's Restaurant), and Joe Guidicessi (Christopher's).  Lacona's grandson, James, is the current manager of the restaurant. 

Noah's Ark is famous for serving the first pizza in Des Moines.  And over the years, the recipe hasn't changed a bit.  Thin, crispy crust dusted with flour on the bottom; large chunks of sausage; and a wonderful tangy tomato sauce make this one of the best pizzas in Des Moines.  Noah's may be the first place I ever had a bite of pizza, so it's always a treat to go in and have one.

I got into Des Moines one evening recently in time to grab a pizza from Noah's.  There's plenty of parking behind and just to the west of Noah's, as well as on Ingersoll Ave.  It was around 8:30 when I got in there, so it wasn't a problem to park.  I was shown to a booth in the restaurant and the hostess handed me a menu.  Noah's Ark serves typical Italian food for the Midwest.  Nothing too dazzling or provocative.  And it's primarily southern Italian style with the emphasis on red sauces and the like. 

They also serve steaks and chops at Noah's Ark, but I was going for the pizza.  The waitress showed up and I ordered a small (10") sausage, pepperoni, and mushroom pizza.   It had been a while since I'd had a pizza from Noah's, so I was really looking forward to the taste sensation.

Looking around at Noah's, I don't think the place has changed all that much from when I first visited in the 60's.  It still has the dark wood walls with the comfy booths and spacious tables.  While it's definitely not modern, Noah's has aged very well.

My waitress brought out the pizza - exactly as I remember - thin crust with flour on the bottom, big chunks of sausage, tangy sauce, wonderful pepperoni.  The taste was as I always remember.  And the small is more than enough for one person.  I definitely didn't go away hungry.

Noah's Ark is one of those restaurants that I've just sort of taken for granted all these years.  It's not spectacular cuisine and I'm sure there's even better pizza and Italian food at other restaurants in Des Moines.  But the one thing remains about Noah's is their consistency.  You'll never have to worry about getting a bad meal there. 

InPlay - Des Moines

InPlay Sports Bar is located just south of the nearly new Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines (see map).  For years, concert goers, sports fans and conventioneers had to either trapse all the way from Veterans Memorial Auditorium to the downtown area of Des Moines to get a drink.  Not any longer - InPlay is a three minute walk from the main doors of the Wells Fargo Arena.

InPlay is a franchise based out of Urbandale, IA (a suburb of Des Moines).  There is also an InPlay in Omaha, and there was an InPlay in Peoria, IL that recently closed up.  It's very similar to a Dave & Buster's or a Jillian's where they mix food, sports, and games geared toward adults.  They market themselves to corporations or groups, and they have a family theme to the place, as well. 

Michael Stessman is the managing partner and you can usually see him around InPlay most of the time.  This InPlay opened in June of 2007.  The one in Omaha opened later in the year. 

I stopped into the InPlay one evening around 5:00 p.m. for a sandwich and a beer.  The place was nearly full with people who were waiting for the evening session of the Iowa Boys State Basketball Tournament.  I got a seat at the bar and ordered up a beer.  They had a special price on 16 oz. draft beers from 3 to 7 p.m., so I took a Bud Light. 

Actually, the bar area is called The Stadium Bar and Grill.  They have a lot of flat panel televisions playing sports in high definition.  That's where they serve the food, as well.  I got a menu and it had the usual sports bar food such as appetizers, burgers and sandwiches.  There were a few main entrees, but I wouldn't trust a place like this for steak or pork chop. 

The gentleman seated next to me had what appeared to be an Italian Grinder - Des Moines style (similar to the Gizmo's that I love so much).  I asked him if that what it was and he said, "Yes, and it's very good."

I told the waitress I'd get that with some fries. 

I looked around the place and it's a two-story establishment with some area downstairs that I didn't go into.  But it featured arcade games, a rock climbing wall, pool tables and other things to keep people busy while taking more of their money.  It wasn't as large or roomy as a Dave and Buster's or a Jillian's, but for Des Moines it was probably OK. 

I noticed there was a large meeting room near the bar area that was being used for some hospitality room.  It looked kind of nice in there with televisions on the wall and some nice wood paneling. 

I went back to bar after about five minutes and began to talk to the man next to me.  He was in town to see the basketball tournament and he said to me, "Man, this is great.  Before, you'd have to walk all the way down to the Marriott to get a drink between sessions.  Now, it's a one block walk and I can be back in my seat in 10 minutes after I leave here." 

My sandwich showed up and it was good.  Not outstanding like the Carl's Gizmo's are at the Iowa State Fair, but still very good.  It had a good flavor to it, it was nicely proportioned with the right amount of mozzarella over the seasoned ground sausage and beef.  It could have used a little more taste kick to it, but I was happy with it. 

I don't know if a place like InPlay will make it.  Given its close proximity to the Wells Fargo Arena and Vet's Auditorium, I'd say it's got a good chance of doing so.  Even if it's just for a quick drink before or after a show or event, InPlay has a pretty captive crowd.

(Update February 2012 - Somewhere along the way, InPlay became All Play.  But now it's become the new home for the Des Moines branch of Buzzard Billy's.  Buzzard Billy's original location on Court Street was closed after flooding there last year.  They're still working on the changeover and I've heard that they were going to keep some of the arcade games in the place, but I'm not certain if that's correct.)

Hampton Inn - West Des Moines

I've been meaning to write about the Hampton Inn in West Des Moines for quite sometime.  I have a number of choices for hotels in the Des Moines area, but my first choice is always the Hampton Inn just off Interstate 80 at Jordan Creek Parkway (see map). 

Probably one of the reasons I've been holding off in writing about the hotel is that it's so popular with business travelers that it can be incredibly tough to get into.  Reservations, sometimes, need to be made more than 10 to 14 days out.  I can't tell you how many times I've decided that I need to spend a night in Des Moines and tried to make reservations even a week out and haven't been able to get in. 

One of the big reasons it's tough to get into is that there are a number of corporate offices in the area, plus the big Jordan Creek Town Center mall and shops are about two miles away to the south.  But the other reason is that it's one of the nicer Hampton Inns I've ever stayed in. 

A number of Hampton Inns have been going to this "art-deco" decor in their rooms featuring furniture and lamps with a 40's and 50's theme to them.  The West Des Moines Hampton Inn was one of the first Hampton Inn's to have the art-deco style of furnishings in their rooms when they first opened in 2003.  It doesn't seem like a Hampton Inn, but it still has all the amenities you expect from a Hampton. 

Over the past year and a half, I've noticed that a lot of hotels have raised their room prices, some as much as 20%.  The Hampton Inn in West Des Moines is no exception.  Room rates average around $119 a night for a king-sized bed study room which is a little larger than the regular room for the same price.  AAA rates can give you a little bit of a discount when AAA rooms are available.  Hampton Inn's complementary breakfasts are included in the price.

About the only problem I have with this Hampton Inn is that there aren't many restaurants in the immediate area.  It's definitely a five minute drive, minimum, to find anything good that isn't a chain or a fast food place.  But for as comfortable the rooms and beds are at the Hampton Inn, it's a bit of a sacrifice that I can put up. 

So, if you're looking for a hotel room in the Des Moines area, try to get into the Hampton Inn in West Des Moines.  But please don't tell other people...      

The Blue Band/BoDeans - Des Moines

As I pointed out in an earlier post here, Cindy and I went up to Des Moines to go the Iowa State Fair in August.  Our main reason for the trip was to go see both The Blue Band and The BoDeans who were playing at two separate stages on the second Friday night of the fair. 

The Blue Band played for the first time in three years at the annual Wells Fargo Street Festival in downtown Davenport over the Bix Weekend in late July.  In fact, they were sandwiched between two of my favorite local bands - Jim the Mule and Wicked Liz and the Bellyswirls.  The Saturday lineup for Street Fest was the strongest in the nine years I've been involved with the festival.  Also playing that day was the great Ernie Peniston, as well as The Ellis Kell Band.  It was a day full of great music in downtown Davenport. 

Ernie Peniston

In fact, Bob Kelly from Wicked Liz and the Bellyswirls came up to me while The Blue Band was playing and said while looking out at the massive crowd, "Now, how are we supposed to follow THIS?!"

Wicked Liz and the Bellyswirls on stage at the Wells Fargo Street Fest.  Photo courtesy of Colin Peterson.

But they did follow them and did a great job.  It may have been the best show I've ever seen them play in all the years I've worked with them.  In fact, they even had Bob Dorr from The Blue Band come up on stage with them and play a song with them (picture left - courtesy Colin Peterson).  It was a great night for everyone.  It was, by far, the most fun I've ever had working the stage at a Street Fest.

But back to the subject at hand (I know, I know - I always digress).  Cindy and I got up to the fair and after running into my cousins, we took off up the hill to go to the Anderson-Erickson Stage to catch The Blue Band's first show of the evening. 

We got up there and grabbed a beer and walked down to see the guys behind the stage.  They were all sort of surprised to see us there, but happy we made the trip over from Davenport.  Bob Dorr was a little flustered with the guys running the sound, so we didn't get to visit all that much with him.  But we caught up with the other guys who were just hanging out.  Just before showtime, we wished them the best and went back out front to catch their show. 

Playing bass for The Blue Band that evening was Rick Cicalo, a guy I've known for a number of years who used to play with Patrick Hazell in the old Mother Blues Band years ago.  Rick is now the mayor of Washington, IA, which, to me, is sort of surreal.  Rick also plays with Greg Brown and Bo Ramsey on occasion.  The Blue Band's drummer, Steve Hayes, I've known just as long as "Rico" and he also has played with Hazell, Brown and Ramsey over the years.   

And Sam Salomone (left) joined the band on the organ that evening at the State Fair.  Sam used to play full time with The Blue Band, but has cut back in the past few months playing selected shows with the band.  Since he lives in Des Moines, it was an easy gig for him to make. 

The band sounded OK, but they were definitely having problems with the sound.  Heath and Nathan on saxophones were barely audible when they first began to play.  Still, the band did a great job as always.

In fact, just after the State Fair over the Labor Day weekend, The Blue Band was inducted into the Iowa Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  (See their inductee details here.)   It was a double whammy for Steve Hayes who was also inducted into the Iowa Rock and Roll Hall of Fame that same weekend for his work with Mother Blues, along with Cicalo.  In fact, Steve and Rick were inducted into the Iowa Blues Hall of Fame earlier this summer, too.  They're great musicians and equally great guys. 

After hanging around for about 45 minutes listening to The Blue Band, we decided we'd better high-tail it back down the hill to get a good seat for The BoDeans at the Bill Riley Stage just south of the administration building.  We got there in plenty of time to grab a Gizmo from Carl's Gizmo.  It was just killer.

There was a pretty good sized crowd waiting for The BoDeans.  My cousins were able to snag some seats up front in the covered bleachers area.  But it was still about 30 feet from the front of the two foot high stage - a lot of real estate between the crowd and the band.

That didn't last for long.  As soon as the band came out to play, a rush of people went to the foot of the stage area.  Cindy and I were part of the crowd and we stood about 10 feet from where Sammy Llanas and Kurt Neumann were standing.  It was pretty awesome.

In fact, The BoDeans, backed with a new keyboard player and bassist, along with longtime John Mellencamp drummer Kenny Aronoff, sounded about the best I've heard them in a long time.  They seemed to be fresh and upbeat during the whole show. 

BoDeans guitarist/vocalist Kurt Neumann

      

After seeing them a number of times and working with them at the 2005 River Roots Live festival in Davenport, it was good to see them again.  They put on a great show.  Actually, it may have been the best show I've ever seen them play. 

BoDeans guitarist/vocalist Sammy Llanas

Even though Joe Walsh was the main attraction at the fair that night (he was playing in the grandstand), I'll have to say that just for the price of admission to the fair The BoDeans were the best deal of the night.  They drew a good amount of people - I'm guessing between 1000 and 1500 people were there to see them.  And they certainly didn't disappoint.

We were going to go back up the hill to catch the second part of The Blue Band's second show of the night.  But lightning in the skies to the northwest and an ominous looking radar on my Blackberry told us it was probably best to high-tail it to the shuttle bus to take us back to our car at the State Capitol complex.  We got back to the hotel just as it was starting to rain. 

We got to see two great bands who have been together for a long time, and both with great followings.  The Blue Band and The BoDeans may not be the most well-known bands out there, but for the Midwest they're the tops in their class.

Iowa State Fair - 2007

Cindy and I went to the 2007 Iowa State Fair in Des Moines recently.  Actually, we went up there to see both The Blue Band and the BoDeans who were playing the same night, yet at separate stages.  Cindy wanted to go back the next day to look around at things, so we did just that. 

We met my cousins, John and Tom Wehrle, John's girlfriend, Bonnie, and Tom's co-worker friend, Bobbie, at the Varied Industries Building just after we got to the fair.  John was hungry and he wanted to go get a Gizmo.  So we headed over to get him one. 

Here's a picture of John finding the holy grail of State Fair foods - Carl's Gizmo.  To see my earlier post which featured Carl's Gizmo, click here.

The Gizmo is still the best food at the fair.  Ground beef and sausage, cooked in a special tomato sauce with herbs and spices.  Placed on an Italian roll and topped with melted mozzarella cheese.  Oh, man!  It's heavenly.  We didn't have a Gizmo right then (since it was around 4:30 on Friday and we ate lunch a little bit earlier), but we did have one later on that evening and one again the next day for lunch.

Here's Jalapeno Pete's on the Grand Concourse.  It's one of the newer places to eat at the State Fair and they also serve margaritas and Mexican beers.  I had a Sol, but it was lukewarm, plus it cost $6 bucks.  Ouch!  It was also horribly loud in the place with karaoke going on.  We didn't stay there long. 

This is one of the new stages they have near the Original Budweiser Beer Tent.  This is the Susan Knapp Amphitheater.  It looked pretty neat.  But most of the acts playing on this stage were of the country and western variety, so we didn't stick around there, either.

One of things that drove us nuts this year were the number of people in these little carts driving around the fairgrounds.  First of all, they're slow as all get out.  Secondly, they pop up out of nowhere.  Third, if you can't walk around the fairgrounds, why even come out?  I told Cindy, "If I get to be that big and can't walk, just shoot me and put me out of my misery."

But this is the most popular mode of transportation around the fairgrounds - the good ol' tractor hauling the people wagon.  I can safely say I've never gotten a ride on one of those things, but it seems to be a big hit with a lot of people.  They're always packed. 

Here's a far away shot of the grandstand and the midway from the south Sky Glider.  Actually, there's not much to see on the south Sky Glider - it goes right over all the farm implements and some of the agriculture exhibits.  The north Sky Glider that comes down the hill on the east side gives some great shots of the Des Moines skyline and the Grand Concourse as shown in the picture on the right that I took last year.  For more pictures from last year's fair, click here.

Of course, Cindy had to go see the cows and horses.  We stopped in and caught a little bit of the judging for cattle.  And we went over and watched a little bit of the horse show.  It's big for a lot of farm people, but to me it's like watching paint dry. 

They had the annual Chili cook-off going on at the fair when we were there.  They had about 20 to 25 people all lined up in a row along one of the streets making up chili.  Here's Cindy asking one of the contestants what his secret is.  I think he replied, "Cow urine." 

And the trip to the State Fair can't be complete without seeing the big boar and the big bull.  This is the big boar champion - Big Red.  He weighed in at 1203 pounds.  No shit!  He would sleep all day, then wake up around 7 p.m. to drink three gallons of water and eat five gallons of ground feed.  And no, those aren't hemorrhoids hanging from his backside.

And here's the big bull - the Super Bull - as they call it.  "Lazar" tipped the scales at 3322 pounds.  Jesus, that's a big goddamn bull!  But as impressive as that might seem, he was still 56 pounds UNDER the record weight for a bull that was set in 2004.  His owners said they didn't do anything special to make him that big - he just had his daily helpings of silage and hay. 

We had to head up to the art building to see the pictures and paintings.  I always like to see the sand castle they sculpt in the main entry area at the art building. 

Right down from the art exhibits is the agriculture building.  And that means the annual pilgrimage to see the Butter Cow.  This is the second year Sarah Pratt has sculpted the Butter Cow, after taking over last year for longtime butter cow sculptor (sculptress?) Duffy Lyon.  Lyon sculpted the Butter Cow for 46 years. 

And they usually have some topical sculpture with the Butter Cow.  This year, it was Harry Potter.  The lines were long to see the sculptures up close.  I just took Cindy's camera and stood behind the crowd and held it up above and took the shots. 

Here's another big winner and very popular exhibit at the fair - the biggest pumpkin.  This one was the all-time record for the State Fair - 1176 lbs!  Holy crap!  And crap is what they had to feed the soil around the ground to make this thing grow, no doubt.  That and a LOT of water.  But the 1176 pound gourd didn't just barely break the all-time record.  It DESTROYED the old record by nearly 200 lbs!  My God!

Time for relaxation.  Here I am standing in front of Stockman's Inn near the barns on the south side of the fairgrounds.  Stockman's has the best deal on beer at the fair - $5.00 for a 24 oz. COLD glass of beer.  Most of the other places charge $5.00 for a 16 oz. glass of beer.  Stockman's is my favorite place to drink at the fair. 

And at the end of the day, we met up with my cousins, with Tom's friend, and John's significant other.  Here's the crew having a cold beer at Stockman's.  From left, Tom, Bobbie, John, Bonnie, and Cindy.  Believe me, it was tough to leave because the beer was cold and we were having some good laughs. 

The last weekend of the State Fair always seems to bum me out.  When I was younger it meant that summer was over and school was just getting ready to start.  These days it just means that summer is almost over.  Walking out brought back those feelings again.  But it was still a great time at the Iowa State Fair.  I'll go back again next year.         

Downtown Farmer's Market - Des Moines

When we were in Des Moines recently for the Iowa State Fair, we stayed downtown on a Friday night at the Embassy Suites.  On Saturday, we went to one of the largest Farmer's Markets in the Midwest, the Downtown Farmer's Market.  Over 200 vendors line a number of streets in the Court Ave. area of downtown Des Moines (see map). 

And, boy, does it bring the people out.  Thousands of people packed in to buy food, artwork, produce, flowers, wine, baked goods and whatever else one could think to sell at a farmer's market. 

When we first got there, Cindy was sort of hungry - even after we had a small breakfast at the hotel.  So I bought her a Dutch Letter.  A Dutch Letter is an "S" shaped puffed pastry stuffed with an almond filling and sprinkled with sugar.  Personally, I never had a Dutch Letter before, even growing up near Pella, where the Dutch Letter reigns as the king of bakery items.  I had a bite of Cindy's and it was OK, but I'm not big on the almond filling. The picture above is Cindy walking along with her half-eaten Dutch Letter.

I was holding out for the REAL baked goods, like what's shown on the right.  Honestly, I wasn't hungry and didn't get anything.  But tables upon tables of baked goods including cinnamon rolls were all over the place.  I was actually rather proud of myself for not getting any because I have a hard time passing up cinnamon rolls and they looked very good.

Since Cindy's been back from Europe, she's been on this espresso kick.  She doesn't drink coffee like she used to - but now she goes for the high-octane stuff.  Here she is bartering with an Italian guy, smiling and batting her eye-lashes to see if he'll give her a double shot of espresso for the price of one.  He did. 

One of the more popular places at the Downtown Farmer's Market was this place that sold breakfast burritos.  The line of people was 10 deep when we were there.  There had to be another 15 to 20 people sitting on ledges eating burritos.  We figured they must be pretty damn good and we were sort of kicking ourselves for having breakfast at the hotel before we came over.

At the Davenport Farmer's Market, we have a family of Amish people who bring in baked goods on a weekly basis.  Well, there's an Amish family that brings baked goods to the Des Moines Farmer's Market, as well, only they have a lot more items they bring.  The table in the foreground was just covered with cinnamon rolls, and the shelves in the back are filled with pies.  They brought, maybe, five to six times the amount of baked goods compared to what the Amish family brings in Davenport. 

And just like most places that have Farmer's Markets, there's a number of artisans who have jewelry, artwork or trinkets for sale.  Cindy can't pass these places without looking at everything.

Not only is the Farmer's Market in Des Moines on Court Ave., they also go into parking lots and down sidestreets.  This is looking North on 4th St. in downtown Des Moines.  Up this street they had everything from wine, barbecue, Maytag Blue Cheese, and more food. 

Here's Cindy talking with a Vietnamese girl selling produce for Vietnamese food.  Cindy saw some greens that looked a lot like some water weeds we get in the garden.  She was asking this girl what they were for and the girl was explaining that, yes, they were edible, but rather bitter.  Cindy said, "God, I pull that stuff out of my garden to get rid of it, and they sell it for food!" 

Good God!  More pastries and baked goods!  I don't know how the hell I got out of there without buying anything.  Everything looked so damn good.  It was all I could do to walk past these places.

I saw a booth for the Jasper Winery, a small winery that opened a few years back in Newton.  They had a number of bottles of wine on the table to sample and a few people were doing just that.  Now, most Iowa wines are of the sweet variety, and I'm just not into that.  But the Jasper Winery wines also feature a Seyval Blanc wine that is pretty good. 

I was sort of hanging around as I wanted to get a brochure when the crowd sort of thinned out.  A guy and a gal were manning the booth and I wasn't paying much attention to them at all.  I finally got up to the table and I reached for a brochure.  Suddenly, the guy reaches across the table and pulls on my shirt collar.  I looked up and it was my old friend, Dave Mortensen, working in the booth with his wife, Cyndi.  I about crapped on the spot.  Dave and I were old friends from back in Newton and since I moved to Davenport we just don't stay in touch like we used to.

Dave and Cyndi bought an acreage south and east of Des Moines and have planted 1400 Seyval grape vines and are selling the grapes to the people at Jasper Winery.  They help the owners out from time to time at the winery and at things like the Farmer's Market.  We were able to visit for a short while as they were pretty busy giving out samples and selling bottles of wine.  It was really great to see them.

By this time, my cousins Tom and John Wehrle; John's girlfriend, Bonnie; and Tom's friend from work, Bobbi; showed up to meet us.  John and I decided we needed a beer, so we went into the Court Avenue Brewing Company for a couple beers.  The others walked around looking at stuff.  The Farmer's Market was so big, I'd had enough for the time being.  That's one of the big things I like about the Des Moines Farmer's Market.  There are bars right there where you can go in and have a morning beer.  And I like morning beers. 

We met back up with them for a quick walk down Court Ave.  My buddy, Jeff Versteegh from Newton, told me to look for a lady selling a brand of gourmet mustard called Denison Mustard.  We found her.  She had a number of different varieties of gourmet stone ground mustard and we sampled a few.  We ended up getting one of their garlic country mustard and one of their hickory smoke country mustard.  Oh, man!  Great stuff!  Thanx for the tip, Burph!

My cousin, John, argued with me for awhile that the Dane County Farmer's Market around the Capitol Square in Madison was bigger than the one in Des Moines.  But after walking along and seeing all the vendors along Court Ave. and up and down the side streets and parking lots, he finally said, "Well, maybe this is bigger.  There's a lot of booths here."

But it turned out he was right.  The Dane County Farmer's Market claims they have over 300 vendors on their web site.  When we've gone in the past, it just didn't seem that large.  But it's also been a few years since we've been there. 

So, the Des Moines Downtown Farmer's Market is by far and away the SECOND largest one we've ever been to.  And it was almost overwhelming.  Cindy said, "Geez, I can't even imagine coming down here every Saturday.  It takes you a minimum of two hours to see everything.  And that's if you don't stop at every place along the way." 

The Downtown Farmer's Market in Des Moines is pretty impressive.  My three tips are: 1) Go early.  2) Have a lot of time on your hands.  And 3) Go hungry. 

Tumea and Sons - Des Moines, IA

With a large Italian community in Des Moines, there's a number of very good Italian restaurants in the city.  I've been to a number of them, but the one that I had never been to before is Tumea and Sons.  And I've heard it was the best of the best in the city.

Tumea and Sons is located south and east of the downtown area (see map), not far from Principal Park.  It's housed in a non-descript building with a large parking lot and a Bocci Ball court in back.  Tumea and Sons hosts a number of Bocci tournaments when the weather permits. 

Joe Tumea came to the U.S. from Italy in 1960 and worked as a tailor at a men's clothing store.  He met his future wife, Lucretia, who was also working as a tailor at the same store.  They married in 1967 and produced four sons.  Eventually, Joe and Lu opened Tumea and Sons in 1998 using a number of old world Italian recipes, as well as their own interpretation of dishes they had at other Italian restaurants.  The Tumea family are all involved in the day to day operation of the restaurant.

I was in Des Moines recently and decided to see if what people had told me about Tumea and Sons was true.  I got to the restaurant around 8:30 and there weren't many people in the place.  I took a seat at the bar and got a menu.  The menu was pretty extensive with a number of appetizers, salads and anti-pasto to get you started.  Entrees included chicken, veal, pasta and seafood.  There was a lot to choose from. 

All the pasta entrees are served with a red sauce and it's $2.50 extra to request a cream sauce with the meal.  So the $10.50 fettuccine dish becomes $13.00 dollars when you order it alfredo.  Add seafood to the dish and it's another $3.50.  Still, $16.50 for a plate of seafood fettuccine alfredo is pretty reasonable.  I've paid significantly more for a similar meal. 

And that's what I ordered - the seafood fettuccine alfredo.  A dinner salad with homemade Italian dressing came with the meal.  I didn't ask for the wine list because I felt like drinking beer with my meal that evening, so I don't know how extensive their wine selection is. 

When the seafood fettuccine alfredo was brought out to me, I was pleasantly surprised to see it was a healthy portion of food.  The pasta was perfectly cooked, there were generous portions of seafood scattered throughout, and the white cream sauce was very delicious.  It was quite a meal.  But, too much food.  I couldn't finish the meal, it was so large and very rich.  And very, very good.

Tumea and Sons also features a number of homemade desserts including tiramisu, cannolis and and cheesecake.  It was tempting, but I was too stuffed from the meal. 

The restaurant is open for lunch from 11 to 2 each weekday, and for dinner from 5 to 9 each evening (10 p.m. on Saturdays.)  They're closed on Sundays.

I don't know if Tumea and Sons is truly the best Italian restaurant in Des Moines, but it's definitely in my excellent category.  I would have no problem recommending Tumea and Sons to anyone visiting Des Moines, and I hope to make it back sometime soon.     

Granite City - Clive, IA

I wrote about the Granite City chain of brewpub/restaurants in an earlier post over a year ago.  I cut a wide swath in that post talking about the Granite City restaurants as a whole.  I wanted to share a recent dinner I had there with a couple guys from my dealer in Des Moines. 

After we finished up with a meeting, I offered to take the guys out to dinner.  A couple of the guys begged off, but a couple of the others said, "Yeah, sure!"  We tossed around the names of a couple of places, then settled on the Granite City Brewpub out in Clive (see map).  It was a cold night and Granite City has some good comfort food for those long winter nights.

I thought the Granite City in Clive was new as I'd never noticed it before.  But I was told by the host who sat us that it had been there for over three years.  He asked, "Have you eaten at a Granite City before?"

I said that I'd eaten in a number of them and he looked back at me and said, "Well, we're the best." 

They brought out the menu and I didn't even have to open it up.  I knew exactly what I wanted - a glass of their Northern Lights lager and the Granite City Meatloaf - a large piece of baked meatloaf that is grilled before serving.  The guys were completely impressed that I knew the menu by heart.  I said, "Don't be too impressed.  I've eaten at a number of Granite City's and the meatloaf is very good."

So good that I talked one of the other guys into getting the same thing.  The other guy went with the Honey Rosemary filet mignon.  I've had that, too, and it's very good as well.

The one thing about Granite City is that their food is much better than their beer.  The beer is OK, at best.  But their food is very good and the portions with some of their plates are huge.  In fact, there always seems to be TOO MUCH food when it comes out. 

And this time was no exception.  The slab of meatloaf was easily a pound in weight.  It had a side of their garlic-mashed potatoes and handful of their very good onion straws.  The only thing that I wish they'd serve with their meatloaf and the mashed potatoes would be a side of brown meat gravy.  Still, it's very good. 

The other guy who got the meatloaf was happy he got it.  "I've never had their meatloaf before.  I was sort of surprised you ordered it, but you ordered it with so much conviction that I figured it had to be pretty darn good." 

The other guy's Honey Rosemary filet was a little overcooked for his taste, but it was still edible.  He said the taste sensation of the honey, rosemary and garlic was wonderful.  He also went with the garlic mashed potatoes and he loved them as well.

The one thing about the Granite City brew pubs is that the food is consistently good.  They serve too much of it (I couldn't even finish the potatoes or the onion straws) and it always seems to be too filling.  Still, Granite City is more of a restaurant that happens to be a brew pub rather than a brew pub that serves some food. 

And the one in Clive was very good.  I don't know if it's best of the ones I've eaten at, but it's got to be in the top three.

Sam and Gabe's - Urbandale, IA

I recently took my big Des Moines dealer and his wife out for dinner at a great little place called Sam and Gabe's Italian Bistro in the Des Moines suburb of Urbandale (see map).  They said it was one of their favorite restaurants and I said that sounded good enough to me. 

Sam and Gabe's was started in 1996 by the brother and sister team of Jerry and Julia Talerico (right).  The Talerico family has been involved in the restaurant business in the Des Moines area since the late 30's.  Their father, Vic, owned Vic's Tally Ho Club, a very popular supper club located not far from where Sam and Gabe's is today.  Jerry and Julia both worked in their father's restaurant when they were younger.   

The original Sam and Gabe's opened in the former location of Raul's westside location in West Des Moines when Raul's moved to a newer and bigger location.  The Talerico's moved into their current location four years ago.  Considering where they were before - the old Raul's location was sort of hidden in an industrial strip mall - the move was a definite step up in digs. 

The main dining room is heavy with dark wood paneling and it kind of has a supper club feel to the place.  There's a nice bar area to wait in when the place gets full.  And that happens quite frequently - our wait on a Tuesday night was about 30 minutes.

And the wait was worth it.  We started off with a great appetizer - Italian Nachos.  They were like regular Mexican nachos, but they topped them with Italian sausage, banana peppers, asiago cheese, their white sauce and baked in the oven for about 10 minutes.  They were out of this world, but very, very rich.   

They had a pretty good wine list, except the first wine that I ordered - the 2001 Franciscan cabernet - they were out of.  So I decided to step up to the more expensive 2001 Silver Oak cabernet.  It was a great choice. 

Their dinner menu was widely varied.  You could choose between beef, pork or chicken dishes.  They also had a variety of pasta dishes, as well as fish entrees.  Seriously, it was tough to choose.

For dinner, both my dealer and I went with the Chicken Asiago - two small chicken breasts, breaded and sauteed in olive oil, then topped with either a red sauce or a white sauce (or both - that's the direction I went), and topped with Asiago cheese.  My dealer's wife got the baked salmon, topped with a cream caper sauce. 

The bottom line - my dinner was outstanding.  But, oh!  So rich!  I couldn't finish my dinner, it was so rich.  (I suppose eating the Italian nachos before dinner didn't help either.)  The chicken was cooked perfectly and the combination of the red marinara sauce and the white cream sauce topped with the asiago cheese was a pleasantly surprising great tasting blend. 

My dealer's wife raved about her salmon.  It did look great, as well, topped with that cream and caper sauce. 

For dessert, they had a tempting lemon mousse cheesecake (two of my favorite things in life - lemon and cheesecake).  They also had tiramisu, a white chocolate bread pudding and an espresso chocolate tort.   I was so stuffed that even the lemon mousse cheesecake couldn't get me to jump on that.  But my dealer's wife had to have the creme brulee.  She said it was one of the best she'd ever had. 

So, she ordered that with three spoons.  I protested, saying that there was NO WAY I could even take a bite, I was ready to burst.  When the waitress brought out the creme brulee it was too tempting.  I had to have a bite.  And it was good.  I don't know if it was the best I'd ever had, but it was very good.  Oh, but so rich, again! 

Our waitress was pretty good, although she did sort of forget about us after she served us our Italian nachos.  It was about a 20 minute interval from the time we finished our nachos to the time we finally ordered our entrees.  But it was very busy that night so I understood that.  But she could have stopped briefly to check on us - she didn't even do that.

Sam and Gabe's has a small area in a lower area of the restaurant for a lunch time crowd.  Their lunch menu consists mainly of salads, sandwiches and some pastas.  The lower area room is not open for dinner, but it used for parties and receptions during the evening.

Most of Sam and Gabe's entrees are moderately priced, but with the Silver Oaks bottle of wine our bill with tip went over $200 bucks.  But my dealer does a lot of business with our company, so it was well worth the price.

I would definitely eat at Sam and Gabe's again...

Guinea Grinders

Every time I go to the Iowa State Fair I have to get a "Guinea Grinder". Guinea Grinders are basically 1/2 ground Italian sausage and 1/2 ground beef, cooked with a tomato sauce with spices, loaded into a small loaf of Italian bread, topped with mozzarella and baked in an oven or broiler until the cheese is melted.  They're damned good. 

In this politically correct age, it's no longer called a Guinea Grinder.  There are two stands that sit side by side to one another at the State Fair - Carl's Gizmo and the former Original Guinea Grinder, now called "Jennie Grinder" after the inventor of the sandwich. 

A little history on the Guinea Grinder.  It was reportedly invented in Des Moines over 60 years ago by Jennie DePhillips, who owned the Original Guinea Grinder restaurant in Urbandale.  Jennie died a few years ago, but her stand is still doing business at the fair each year.

In 1946 after he got out of the war, Carl Cardamon opened up his first eatery at the Iowa State Fair that featured Guinea Grinders.  But Jennie DePhillips had the copyright to the name "Guinea Grinder" so he had to call his sandwich something else.  He called it a "gizmo".  Carl died in 2001 and his daughter, Carla Wood, her husband and son run the Carl's Gizmo stand at the State Fair.

Since this was the 60th anniversary of Carl's Gizmo at the State Fair, the Des Moines Register recently ran an article that takes a more in-depth look at the history of Carl's.  You can read the article here.

I like the Gizmo's at Carl's better than the Jennie Grinder at Jennie's.  The sauce is more flavorful, the buns are better.   Also, Carl's offer up jalapeno pepper slices to put on the sandwich that gives it an extra kick.

Actually, Guinea Grinders are very easy to make.  The mother of an old girlfriend in Des Moines taught me how to make them years ago.  You take a pound of ground beef and a pound of Italian sausage, cook both on a stove top in a pan.  Drain the excess grease/water, and add 16 oz. of your favorite spaghetti sauce and a small can of tomato paste.  Add spices including chopped garlic, Italian seasonings and whole fennel seeds.  Let cook for an hour or so.  Place on a small sliced loaf of Italian bread or a Kaiser roll, put mozzarella on the top, and toast for about 3 to 5 minutes in a broiler oven and serve.  It's that easy. 

And as I said, you can zip them up a bit by adding jalapenos or hot pepperoncinis to the sandwich before it's toasted.  That's my favorite way to eat them.

Some people like to sautee up some onions and green peppers and add them to the meat sauce.  That's fine, too. 

Even though I haven't made any for a while, they are great to freeze and reheat in the microwave for lunch or a late night snack. 

But I'm torn in being politically correct and calling them Italian Sausage sandwiches (which they really aren't) or Guinea Grinders.  It's easy just to call them a "Grinder".

2006 Iowa State Fair

I had an extra few days of vacation to use up after we came back from our little trip (Cindy's going to Las Vegas with her sisters in October - she's using the rest of her vacation time then), so I decided to make a day trip to the 152nd annual Iowa State Fair.

The State Fair hasn't changed in years - but in ways, it has.  There's always a lot of the same things to see, but they're different each year.  I like to go through the cultural exhibits and look at the photographs.  I like to go to the Agriculture Building and check out the winning tomatoes and compare them to the ones I have at home.  And while I'm at the Ag Building, I have to see the Butter Cow.

Yep, for those of you not familiar with the traditions of the Iowa State Fair, each year there is a cow on display sculpted out of butter.  For over 40 years, Duffy Lyon (right) has sculpted the cow and at least one other statue out of butter.  It's actually pretty neat.  This she and an apprentice (who will be taking over for her after this year) sculpted a statue of Superman and a bust of Bill Riley, known as "Mr. State Fair."

I took my time, walked completely around the fairgrounds, drank a few cold beers and took a lot of pictures.  You can see them in the Photo Albums section of my blog. 

The Iowa State Fair - Middle Americana at its best.

Principal Park - Des Moines

The tour of baseball stadiums around the Midwest continues with a recent stop at Principal Park, the home of the Iowa Cubs. 

The park was built in 1947 south of downtown Des Moines where the Raccoon River empties into the Des Moines River.  It was originally called Pioneer Park until 1959 when it was renamed Sec Taylor Stadium after the longtime sports columnist for the Des Moines Register. 

It was used very little for an eight year period after the old Des Moines Demons of the Three I League played there for three seasons ending in 1961.  But minor league baseball came back to Des Moines in 1969 when the American Association reformed and the Oakland A's top farm team - the Iowa Oaks - was born. 

The Oaks were also affiliated with the Chicago White Sox and Houston Astros over the years before becoming the top farm team of the Chicago Cubs in 1981 and adopting the parent club's nickname.  Many people just refer to them as the "I-Cubs" as to not confuse them with the major league Cubs. 

After the 1991 season, the ballpark underwent a massive renovation and was literally torn down and rebuilt at the cost of about $12M.  In 2004, the Principal Financial Group based in Des Moines bought naming rights to the stadium for about $7M, which included about $4.5M in updates to the stadium.  A new seating/picnic area in right field was one of the new additions this past year, along with new seating throughout the park. 

I went to Sec Taylor - oops!  I mean, Principal Park, with a buddy one night when I was in Des Moines earlier this summer. He wasn't too thrilled that I wanted to walk around and take pictures of the park for the blog, but he was a gamer. 

The I-Cubs were playing the Oklahoma Redhawks, the top minor league team of the Texas Rangers.  It was also rather hot that evening, about 95 degrees when the game started.  But the beer was cold and the hot dogs - Schweigert brand - were good.   

Principal Park is one of the better places to see a game of baseball.  The views from anywhere in the stadium are unobstructed and you have the great view of the Iowa State Capitol building on the hill northeast of the stadium.  Some of the seats along the right field line give you a good view of the Des Moines skyline. 

You can check out some pictures of the stadium in my Photo Album section.

Jesse's Embers - West Des Moines

One of my favorite places to eat in Des Moines is Jesse's Embers steak house.  The original Jesse's Embers was opened in Des Moines on Ingersoll Ave (see map) by Jesse Roush in 1963.  His son, Rick, took over the operation years later and in 1993 opened up their second location in West Des Moines (see map).  Jesse's Embers opened up a third location (though not listed on their site) in Northwest Des Moines about three years ago (see map).

The original Jesse's is very much like a Midwest supper club/steak house.  It's cozy and dark, with a lot of dark wood paneling throughout the place. 

The newer ones are are more open and spacious, a little more luxurious than the one near the downtown Des Moines area.  The bar areas are much larger and the one in West Des Moines features a large outdoor patio.  I've eaten at all three and each are very good. 

I was in Des Moines recently and offered to take the sales guys from my big dealer out to dinner at Jesse's in West Des Moines.  Unfortunately, two of them had to beg off (they had to finish up a show home for an upcoming Home Show Expo), but one of the guys took me up on the offer.  He had to go home first to deal to help put his daughters to bed, but he said he wouldn't miss a meal at Jesse's. 

I got to the bar to wait for my guy to show up and had a quick beer.  The bar area is very nice - a neat curved bar with a lot of walnut paneling.  The bartender, Greg, was attentive and a nice guy. 

My guy finally showed up and we sat in the main dining room.  We started out with their great cajun shrimp - six barbecued shrimp in a butter/cajun sauce served with thick slices of bread to sop up the sauce.  It's so good it's sinful. 

I went with their signature steak - the Embers Special.  It's a 12 oz sirloin grilled over an open flame pit.  My guest got the 8 oz filet.  I wanted a side of the garlic mashed potatoes, but they had just run out of them for the evening.  So I went with their great onion rings. 

We each got a salad with our dinner.  I ordered mine with Italian dressing and blue cheese crumbles.  The salad dressing was weak, the blue cheese wasn't that flavorful and the salad was by far the most disappointing aspect of our meal.

The steaks were cooked - as usual - to perfection.  I've never got a bad meal at a Jesse's location.  The only thing that I wish the West Des Moines location had the New York Strip that they serve at the Ingersoll Ave. Jesse's.  That is one good piece of meat. 

Our waitress was an older gal, but fun to talk with and she was on top of things for us.  She got a good tip.

We ended up going into the bar after dinner (so my guy could have an after dinner cigarette) and we each had a Macallan scotch for an after dinner drink.  Nothing better than a good scotch whiskey after a great steak.

The bill for the meal with the drinks tacked on with tips came to about $110.00.  We went a little overboard with drinks, but this is a good dealer and the sales guy I took out needed a little TLC as he admits he has trouble selling my product. 

Any of the three Jesse's Embers locations are great.  I highly recommend a trip to Jesse's when you're in Des Moines.   

(Update May 2011 - The West Des Moines location for Jesse's Embers is closed, as is the one on NW 86th St.  However, the original location on Ingersoll is still going strong.  I was in there not long ago and the food was still just as outstanding as the first time I visited over 20 years ago.)

Chuck's Italian and American Restaurant - Des Moines

Chuck's Italian and American Restaurant is an institution that has been around for nearly 50 years.  Located in the Highland Park section of Des Moines just north of Euclid Ave. on 6th (see map), Chuck's has some of the best pizza in Des Moines, if not THE best. 

Opened in 1956 by Chuck Bisignano, the brother of famed Des Moines restranteur, Babe Bisginano, Chuck's is one of the "old guard" Italian restaurants still in existence in the Des Moines area.

Chuck's is basically two sides with a party room in the back.  There's a bar that caters to the smokers and the non-smoker side, which is larger, that has the pizza kitchen up front.  In fact, the pizza kitchen faces the street and you can see the pizza chef making the pies as you walk by the place.

Chuck's pizza has a thin crust that is very tasty.  They use the freshly ground sausage (they grind it themselves) for the big chunk sausage that I like.  The sauce is sweet and zesty and the pizza really tastes great with a cold beer.

Chuck's also has great beer battered onion rings, the stringy kind that taste so great.  There's a little pepper in the batter so it adds a little zip to the taste of the rings.  They are sinfully great. 

One other thing I've had at Chuck's before is their lasagna.  Since they make their own sausage there, the lasagna is very, very good.  The portions are almost too big to eat in one sitting. 

Chuck's takes all major credit cards and is open until 10 p.m. thru the week and, I believe, to 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights.  There is some parking around, but you can park on the streets near the place, it's pretty safe and well lit at night. 

I have to eat at Chuck's nearly everytime I go to Des Moines.  It's worth the trip.

Cosi Cucina - Des Moines

I was in Des Moines recently and met up with my daughter for dinner.  She's got a weakness for Italian food, so I took her to a place that I hadn't been to for a number of years - Cosi Cucina in suburban Clive (see map). 

Like I say, I hadn't been to Cosi Cucina in, probably, six or seven years, but it was just as nice inside as I remember it being from before.  It's cozy, comfortable (although the booths are kind of small) and they still serve good Italian.

Our waiter hadn't been there any more than about three months and he wasn't as polished as I've seen waiter at other similar higher end Italian restaurants.  But, still, he was pleasant enough and helpful. 

The menu had such a wide variety - especially with entrees mixed with seafood - that I had trouble figuring out what I wanted.  My daughter, who is allergic to seafood (I keep telling her she can't be my daughter if she's allergic to seafood), had limited options.  She ended up going for the grilled chicken in a pesto cream sauce over linguine noodles.  I went with the Malfadine con Aragosto - chunks of lobster over bow tie pasta with a brandy cream sauce. 

We both got the house salad, mixed greens with red onions and chopped tomatoes with a balsamic vinaigrette.  It looked very large when it was set on our table, but it was more poofy than anything. 

For our main entree, Leah's chicken looked a little over cooked, and she was having trouble cutting it, but she still said it was good.  My lobster pasta was very good.  There was something in the sauce that gave it just a little spicy bite that really added to the flavor. 

The owner, Devin Rowling, and head chef, Douglas Smith make up the team that has garnered Cosi Cucina numerous local awards for being the best Italian restaurant in Des Moines for many years.  The food is very good, the ambiance is very nice.  My daughter thought it was a little expensive - just under $70 for dinner, drinks and tip (the salads are ordered ala carte and are not part of the meal).  I've eaten in much more expensive Italian restaurants that aren't as good as Cosi Cucina.  It's tough to beat.

Granite City Food and Brewery

Granite City Food and Brewery is a chain of about a dozen restaurants/brew pubs in the upper Midwest.  By now, you know that I usually try and stay away from chains like the plague.  But Granite City is still small enough that each restaurant has a little bit of local character to it. 

Granite City started in St. Cloud, MN in 1999 by Steve Wagenheim and brew master Bill Burdick.  Both had been involved in the restaurant business for a number of years prior to opening their first Granite City restaurant.  They just opened their 12th Granite City this month next to the Kansas Speedway in Northwest Kansas City.

Now, most brew pubs - I've found - are brew pubs first and the food is somewhat of an afterthought.  That's not the case with Granite City.  The food is really what brings the people in, the beer is so-so to OK.

Their beers are a little too sweet for my taste.  The Northern Light Lager has a smooth taste, but the aftertaste reminds me of a sweet beer along the lines of Falstaff.  Their Duke of Wellington Pale Ale is also a little too sweet for me.  It doesn't have that good pale ale bite that I like when I finish a swallow.

But as I said, the food is what brings the people in. 

They had just announced they were going to open a Granite City in Davenport sometime in 2003.  I happened to be up in Sioux Falls, SD one evening and just down the street from my hotel was a Granite City.  Turns out it was the second Granite City restaurant in the chain.

Granite City - Sioux Falls

As I found with all the Granite City's I've been to (4 so far), the Sioux Falls Granite City was spacious and well-appointed on the inside and the building looked attractive on the outside.  The one in Sioux Falls has a nice outside patio that overlooks a little pond with a fountain.  Nice touch.

I ordered the meat loaf for my first meal.  When they brought me my meal, I couldn't believe the size of the portions.  In fact, it was too much.  But that's been the trademark - and one of my largest complaints - of Granite City's food service.  There's just too much food. 

I do like their Honey Rosemary Filet Mignon, a filet marinated in honey, garlic and rosemary, then broiled.  Their meat loaf is an old stand-by for me - they grill the cooked meat loaf giving it a nice little flavor that you don't expect out of a meat loaf. 

Granite City's blue cheese peppercorn burger is pretty good.  And their Chicken Florentine lasagna is a good get, too.  They also have pretty good garlic mashed potatoes that you can get when you get a steak. 

And ask for the onion straws instead of french fries if you get a sandwich.  They usually use the onion straws - which are thin onion rings - as a garnish on burgers and other sandwiches.  They're much better than the fries.  And don't let them tell you they can't substitute the onion straws - they can.  I still don't understand why they don't have them available on the menu. 

In addition to the one in Sioux Falls, I've been to the one in Lincoln, NE, Cedar Rapids, IA, and, of course, the one in Davenport.  I've never had a bad meal, the service is always good, the beer is, well, it's OK.  Drinkable, but nothing outstanding.  And the one in Davenport is so popular of an eating destination that the wait can be upwards of 45 minutes to an hour on a Friday or Saturday night.

It's probably a good thing that Granite City says "Food and Brewery" rather than "Brewery and Food".  As I said, it's the food, not the beer, that makes Granite City good.

Drake Diner - Des Moines

There aren't a lot of comfort food places in Des Moines, but one that I like to go to from time to time is the Drake Diner (see map).

The Drake Diner is situated just off of University Ave., south of Drake University.  The ambiance of the place suggests it is a throw back to the 50's style diners and the food is typical of those type of places.

I like the Drake Diner's meat loaf and their hot beef sandwiches.  The meatloaf is very good with an oniony-sage taste quality to it.  Their hot beef sandwiches are piled high with meat and the gravy is definitely homemade. 

The Drake Diner has spawned two other diners around Des Moines - the West End Diner in Clive (see map); and the North End Diner on Merle Hay Road (see map).  I've eaten at the North End Diner before and even though it is more spacious than the Drake Diner, I have to say the food is a little better at the Drake Diner. 

The Drake Diner is not in a great neighborhood and I know a lot of people don't like going to it during the night time hours.  Still, if you're in the area and need some comfort food, it's a good place to go to.